Sure, lots of people think their workplace sucks. The coffee tastes like rat-shampoo rinsewater, the guy in the cubicle next to you won't stop singing Tainted Love, we get it. But chances are you're not being repeatedly tasered like Bradley Jones was at Fred Fincher Motors.
Jones, 45, filed a civil suit against the used-car dealership, which is owned by Sam Harless and his wife, Texas State Represntative Patricia Harless. The suit, which also names two other co-workers, is for assault and battery, and failure to provide a safe work place. Jones said the over two dozen attacks left him jittery and paranoid, saying,
“I was constantly looking behind my shoulder, distracted, couldn’t sleep... I would even look behind my shower curtain at home.”
... which seems pretty much how you would guess someone would act after being tasered all the time. The fact that this man, who says he was desperate to keep his job so he could buy a house, managed to avoid going batshit and stabbing people is pretty remarkable.
Jones' boss, co-owner Sam Harless, reputedly provided the stun gun and recorded many of the attacks, which were then uploaded to YouTube. In what many would consider to be an equally horrific offense, some of these videos were shot in portrait orientation, though all have now been removed from YouTube.
When questioned about the lawsuit, Harless told reporters,
“I’m just happy that I’m an American and I’m in a country where the justice system works. This is a frivolous lawsuit — once the facts come out, it will be thrown out.”
It's a bit tricky to know what facts are going to come out when everything is pretty clearly shown on video, and it's equally difficult to see how a lawsuit complaining about repeated taserings is trivial. What is easy to comprehend is that you would have to be a dickhead on a truly cosmic scale to do this to somebody.
Jones no longer works for Fred Fincher Motors and is currently seeking a new job, preferably with less taserings.
(Source: KHOU, via BoingBoing)
Car Dealer Owned By TX State Rep Sued For Repeatedly Tasering Employee