Tampa attorney tasered during code enforcement meeting
TAMPA — A Tampa attorney was Tasered by police Wednesday afternoon during a meeting of the Tampa Code Enforcement Board. Carl Roland Hayes, 53, was addressing the board at 12:40 p.m. Wednesday about the aluminum windows he’d installed at his Seminole Heights home, when police say he became visibly upset and agitated. Tampa Police Lt. Ronald McMullen said officials asked Hayes to leave the meeting. As Officer Don Miller escorted Hayes from the meeting, Hayes slapped the officer in the face, McMullen said. Miller deployed his Taser gun on Hayes with no effect, he said. So, Miller “drive stunned” Hayes, placing the stun gun against Hayes’ skin, then he and another officer took the man to the ground, handcuffing him as he struggled, McMullen said. According to records, Hayes had been cited for installing aluminum windows at his home, 5115 N Branch Ave., rather than the wood windows required under historic preservation codes. He has been being fined $60 per day since Oct. 24 for not having the right windows. Hayes told the officials that replacing 19 windows with wood would cost $300 to $400 a piece. He hasn’t worked most of the year due to brain surgery and has lost half of his income as a result. “I am not wealthy and could only afford the aluminum windows for the back of my house, which are safer, more affordable and more efficient,” he wrote in an Oct. 31 letter to the Code Enforcement board. Hayes is being charged with battery on a law enforcement officer, resisting arrest with violence and trespassing after warning, McMullen said. He was booked into Orient Road Jail at 2:15 p.m.Wednesday. Years ago, Hillsborough Circuit Judge Daniel Perry recused himself from all of Hayes’ cases after Hayes accused the judge and his bailiffs of treating him differently than others because of his skin color.
From TCPalm: http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2008/nov/27/tampa-attorney-tasered-during-code-enforcement-mee/
