Man in cuffs tazed, kicked by police while his pregnant wife screams

By: Angel Clark


Jeremy being kicked by Corporal Robert Whitman




A man was tazed repeatedly and kicked in the head by police while he was in handcuffs in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. His wife, who was eight and a half months pregnant, watched and recorded the event, begging the police to stop tazing him. Throughout the disturbing and graphic video, the wife’s voice may be heard, begging the three police officers surrounding her husband to let her take him home. She screams “stop tazing him”, and moves in close as an officer, she identifies as “Robert Whitman”, begins to taze her husband in the face and head while he’s on the ground in handcuffs. “What is wrong with you,” the pregnant wife screams as Whitman kicks her husband in the face. The video, uploaded Thursday, includes in the description that the man, identified as Jeremy, was tazed by police 13 times.

Rehoboth Beach is a small, resort town in Delaware. Described as “a welcoming, friendly, Delaware community”, the town boasts a population of 1,300 people during the winter but swells to over 35,000 with tens of thousands more nearby during the summer. Jeremy and his wife were visiting Rehoboth Beach on April 7, 2013, as thousands do every year. The season in Rehoboth Beach has just begun, meaning many of the seasonal police officers specially trained in “Bicycle Patrol Operations”, are not on patrol in the town yet. Rehoboth Beach Police state on their website that they are authorized to have “19 full-time sworn police officers”. During the off-season their police force drops to a staff of around ten. Corporal Robert Whitman, the officer seen kicking Jeremy in the head and tazing him in face, has a LinkedIn profile showing his employment as a “Corporal at Rehoboth Beach Police”, meaning Whitman is most likely employed by the small beach town all year.

The town of Rehoboth, known for its beaches and food, is now making a name for itself in a new way as word of this graphic video spreads. The man identified as Jeremy is yelling, screaming, and cursing as he is repeatedly tazed and kicked while in handcuffs. As Jeremy's wife questions police in the video, police state Jeremy is being detained for "resisting". The pregnant woman is told to "go where you have to go or we'll arrest you too". No one at the City of Rehoboth Beach was available for comment.

UPDATE: Robert Whitman was suspended as a result of a temporary Ex Parte Order against him in 2009 when he had a Protection from Abuse (PFA) Order filed against him. No more is known about the situation at this time.