The Aporia · Palo Alto mall menace is zapped with Taser before face planting and breaking his neck

Palo Alto mall menace is zapped with Taser before face planting and breaking his neck

Read the original at New York Post ↗

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APA MLA Chicago

Peña, M. (2026, September 20). Palo Alto mall menace is zapped with Taser before face planting and breaking his neck. New York Post. https://nypost.com/2026/09/20/us-news/palo-alto-mall-menace-is-zapped-with-taser-before-face-planting-and-breaking-his-neck/

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

Quick Summary

On July 19, an officer tased a man at Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto after he refused to comply with warnings and moved towards the officer aggressively. The man suffered a fractured vertebra in his neck from falling face down following the tasing. He was later charged with resisting arrest, trespassing, and drug possession but apologized for his behavior afterward. The incident video was released on August 14 under California’s requirement to disclose footage of police use of force resulting in serious injury within 45 days.

Written by AI on 2026-09-20, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

On July 19, a man suffered a fractured vertebra in his neck after being tased by a police officer at Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto, California. The incident began when the man was awakened and started arguing with an officer and a security guard while sitting on a bench outside a New Balance store. Despite warnings from the officer to back away or face being tased, the man continued to approach him aggressively. The officer then deployed his Taser, causing the man to stiffen and fall face-first onto the ground where he lay for about three minutes before being handcuffed by police. Emergency services transported him to a hospital. He was later charged with resisting arrest, trespassing, and drug possession but has since apologized for his behavior in an email sent by City Manager Ed Shikada to the City Council on August 14. California law mandates that law enforcement release audio and video recordings within 45 days of incidents involving serious injury from use of force.

Written for “Mall Incident Tasered Suspect” on 2026-11-04, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

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Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted

sentences that state something as happening or true

Uncertain

10%

2 of 20 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")

Leaning

not political

takes no side on a contested political question

Publisher signals

66/100

New York Post's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.

Outlets on this story

Crime & Law

Same framing elsewhere

articles that frame the event the way this one does

Who wrote this

Marina Peña

68 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction

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Also by Marina Peña

Six noncitizens in California charged over alleged illegal voting

2026-11-02 · New York Post

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Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.

All 68 articles by Marina Peña →

Narrative

Claims (20 extracted, 2 hedged)

A man suffered a fractured vertebra in his neck after a cop used a Taser on him at a California shopping mall. asserted

cop → suffer → mall

The July 19 video shows the man sitting on a bench after being awakened and arguing with an officer and a security guard at Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto. asserted

man → show → Alto

At one point, the man stands up and extends his hand toward the officer, who tells him to back away and asks whether he wants to be taken to jail. asserted

he → stand → jail

“You’re going to get tased, dude. asserted

You → go → ?

You’re going to get tased,” the officer warns. asserted

officer → go → ?

“Do it,” the man responds before moving more quickly toward the officer outside the New Balance store. asserted

man → do → store

The officer then fires his taser into the man’s chest. asserted

officer → fire → chest

His body immediately stiffens and he falls to the ground. asserted

he → stiffen → ground

Video shows the man lying face down with blood coming from his forehead for roughly three minutes before an officer places him in handcuffs. asserted

officer → show → handcuffs

Emergency crews later took him to a hospital, where he was found to have suffered a fractured vertebra in his neck. asserted

he → take → neck

The man was charged with resisting arrest, trespassing and drug possession. asserted

man → charge → arrest

He later apologized for his behavior during the encounter, City Manager Ed Shikada told the City Council in an Aug. 14 email, according to the Palo Alto Daily Post. uncertain

Shikada → apologize → Post

Shikada also said the city’s police auditor would review the officer’s use of force. asserted

auditor → say → force

The Palo Alto Police Department released video of the encounter on Aug. 14. asserted

Department → release → Aug.

California law requires law enforcement agencies to release audio and video recordings within 45 days of incidents in which officers use force resulting in “great bodily injury,” including broken bones. asserted

officers → require → bones

The requirement took effect in July 2019 under Assembly Bill 748. asserted

requirement → take → Bill

Palo Alto police have previously released footage under the law. asserted

police → release → law

In July 2025, the department released video from an encounter in which officers pulled a man off a stolen bicycle, breaking his wrist. asserted

officers → release → wrist

Footage was also released following a Dec. 23, 2023, incident in which officers injured the tip of a man’s finger with a rubber bullet. asserted

officers → release → bullet

In that case, the man had reportedly strangled his wife and head-butted his son before refusing to come out of his home. uncertain

man → strangle → home

Palo Alto mall menace is zapped with Taser before face planting and breaking his neck

Quick Summary

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Narrative

Claims (20 extracted, 2 hedged)