Three Tennessee deputies have been suspended for repeatedly tasering an 18-year-old suspect while he was restrained, according to the teen's lawsuit.
Jordan Elias Norris, now 19, claims he suffered more than 40 pairs of taser burns after he was arrested and held at Cheatham County Jail for drugs and weapons offences last November.
He has since filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court accusing the deputies of using excessive force, failure to protect and deprivation of civil rights, the Daily Mail reported.
Shocking footage appears to show one of the officers repeatedly using a taser on Norris while he was bound to a chair.
"I'll keep on doing that until I run out of batteries," the officer is heard telling Norris in the jail surveillance footage.
The surveillance also shows the deputy telling him to "stop resisting," while stunning Norris, who automatically tenses in pain.
The deputy went onto to stun Norris "four times totalling approximately fifty seconds on his stomach and legs," according to the suit, obtained by the Tennessean.
The suit adds the deputy involved acted in a "sadistic and malicious nature in repeatedly tasing Plaintiff Norris, such that the force was unreasonable."
Three Cheatham County Sheriff's deputies - the one using the taser and two who stood by and failed to act - have now been placed on administrative leave. None have been named.
Cheatham County Sheriff Mike Breedlove says he is examining the office's Use of Force policy and has contacted the District Attorney General Ray Crouch Jr. to request an independent investigation.
"As Sheriff, I want our citizens to know that any inappropriate behavior that may have violated an individual's rights will not be tolerated," he said.
"I have placed the employees involved on administrative leave while the investigation is conducted. We will work closely and cooperatively with the TBI and District Attorney's Office to ensure all facts are provided and all angles of this incident are thoroughly investigated."
Norris was arrested November 3, 2016, for felony manufacturing/possession of marijuana for resale, possession of drug paraphernalia, theft under $500 and five counts of possession of a prohibited weapon, vandalism of over $1,000 and simple assault.
He was in jail for almost two weeks before he was bonded out on November 16.
When he was released, he had around 40 pairs of taser burns throughout his body, according to the suit.
'Most of the taser burns sustained by Plaintiff Norris are not accounted for by the Use of Force Reports and video clips received from the Cheatham County Sheriff's Office, raising further questions and creating a reasonable belief that Plaintiff Norris was also repeatedly tased on other occasions without proper justification,' said the suit.
Use of Force reports filed by deputies, report that Norris was stunned while in booking after they thought he might start a fight with another inmate. They claim he resisted efforts to cuff him, so he was stunned and taken to a restraint chair. The report reveals they stunned him again for resisting as he was put in the chair.
Deputies say he was in the chair for three hours, during which time he was shouting he wanted to die, the Use of Force report reveals.
A report reveals that officers stunned him multiple times that evening at 10.20pm, on November 5, for "compliance" to transport him to a vehicle to take him to jail.
He was stunned 15 minutes later, for 'one second on the calf' in another attempt to transfer him to the vehicle, another report reveals.
The lawsuit, which is seeking unspecified damages, claims that these reports do not reflect the "unreasonable, unnecessary, excessive" use of force used against a young suspect who was suffering a mental health episode.