Tampa police officer fired after tasing incident video, repeated policy violations
By: -----
Tampa, FL - The Tampa Police Department fired one of its officers for repeatedly violating department policy related to a tasing incident earlier this year.
The department said its Professional Standards Bureau began an internal investigation into Officer Dukagjin Maxhuni after a routine review of his body camera video for quality assurance.
The video in question was of a traffic stop on Feb. 25, 2026, in which Maxhuni and another officer attempted to pull over a vehicle in an unmarked vehicle. The vehicle fled, but the officers found it on West Walnut Street.
According to the department, Maxhuni exited the unmarked vehicle as the suspect driver left the car and walked away. However, the individual stopped and put his hands up when he saw the officer.
However, Maxhuni almost immediately pulled out his taser and deployed it on the man after giving him a command to turn around. He activated the taser while a secondary officer tried to take him into custody.
The body camera video showed a total of six seconds passing from Maxhuni stepping out of the vehicle to tasing the man.
“Why are you tasing me?” the man said before falling to the ground in pain.
Despite the officer’s claims in the video that the man resisted commands, the Tampa Police Department said Maxhuni did not reassess the situation or give the man adequate time to comply with his command before deploying the taser.
According to the department, the officer left the suspect unattended to take
“You tased me, tased me for what reason though?” the man asked at one point.
“You are not complying, brother,” Maxhuni responded. “You fled. I don’t know if you got a gun on you. You’re not complying.”
Afterward, the officer made multiple disparaging remarks about the man defecating himself. He then made a comment saying the individual was lucky he did not use physical violence on him instead of the taser.
“When you don’t listen, you’re lucky I didn’t beat you up,” Maxhuni said. “Actually, that’s, that was usually my first thing to go to.”
“Beat you up?” the man asked.
“Yeah, bro. Listen, you couldn’t hang with me, dude,” Maxhuni responded.
“That’s bad; you talking about beating somebody up, for what?” the man said.
“When you resist, you get messed up,” Maxhuni said.
Tampa police Chief Lee Bercaw condemned the officer’s actions, saying that treating everyone with respect is part of being a public servant in Tampa.
“Maxhuni’s conduct represented a clear betrayal of that responsibility,” Bercaw said. “His repeated blatant disregard for professionalism, dignity, and respect violated the standards we expect of every member of this Department, and those actions carried serious consequences. Our community deserves better, and they should know that his behavior does not reflect the character, values, or commitment of the just over 1,000 officers who put their lives on the line every day to protect and serve this city with honor and integrity.”
The internal investigation said Maxhuni violated policies for standard of conduct, response to resistance, and failure to comply.
The officer was previously disciplined in 2022 for violations of courtesy to the public and standard of conduct related to a “Buy Bust” operation on June 23, 2022.