This article was originally published by Matt Agorist at The Free Thought Project. 

For driving three mph over the speed limit, an 80-year-old man was nearly killed by police.

In a shocking display of excessive force, an 80-year-old man from eastern Kansas found himself tased without warning by officers who chased him down for driving a mere three mph over the speed limit. This week, John Sigg filed a federal lawsuit against the Allen County sheriff’s office, detailing the excessive force used against him and seeking justice for the outrageous actions of those sworn to protect and serve.

On April 16, 2021, Sigg was clocked at 38 mph in a 35 mph zone by a lieutenant with the Iola Police Department in Allen County. Because his job description entails extorting, kidnapping, and caging people for arbitrary victimless crimes, the officer then decided to give “chase,” and multiple police vehicles trailed Sigg for several minutes.

Unaware that he was the subject of the pursuit, the elderly man drove to his family’s car lot and parked. As he exited his vehicle, he found himself surrounded by officers from various agencies — none of whom questioned the ridiculous and oppressive nature of pursuing an elderly man to extort him for slightly exceeding the speed limit.

The lawsuit alleges that two Chanute police officers pulled their guns on Sigg, who looked at them with confusion and raised his hands, as seen in a screenshot of body-camera footage. Then, without any warning, a now-former deputy with the Allen County Sheriff’s Office tased Sigg, despite the manufacturer of the TASER X2 explicitly cautioning against using the device on elderly individuals.

The abrupt tasing caused Sigg to fall “like a rock,” resulting in a head injury. His attorney, Randall Rathbun, wrote in the lawsuit that Sigg was disoriented and struggled to understand the situation. Even today, Sigg remains incredulous about the officers’ excessive use of force.

“Sigg mumbled and was hard to understand,” Rathbun wrote in the lawsuit. “As officers talked with him on the scene he indicated that he did not know what was going on and did not feel right.”

The lawsuit highlights that other officers on the scene recognized the deputy’s conduct as excessive and were disturbed by it yet they all failed to stop it. Sigg’s petition seeks a judgment of $250,000 in actual damages and $250,000 in punitive damages.

The Allen County Sheriff’s Office has yet to comment on the matter. However, court records indicate that Sigg later pleaded guilty to failing to yield to an emergency vehicle in relation to the incident.

This outrageous case exemplifies the concerning nature of law enforcement’s tendency to use excessive force, even against vulnerable individuals like the elderly. While the police are entrusted with maintaining public safety, incidents like this raise serious questions about the appropriateness and necessity of their actions.

This case is also a chilling reminder of the willingness of some law enforcement officers to employ potentially deadly force for even the most trivial of infractions — which have no victim — such as driving three mph over the speed limit, having dark window tint, or issues with license plate lights. Such disproportionate responses not only endanger the lives of innocent civilians but also undermine the public’s trust in the police — further driving a wedge between America’s security force and those forced to pay for it.