A Pittsburgh police detective with a history of accusations
on his record was filmed during another apparent outburst on Sunday, yelling at
bystanders and allegedly tazing a man who was trying to leave a local bar.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette posted video early Monday
morning of Detective Frank Rende yelling, “Mind your own freakin’ business” at
bystanders before taking out his taser and waving Mark Keyser Jr. away from the
bar on Saturday.
Rende, who was working an off-duty security detail at the
bar, said in a criminal complaint that a manager asked him to remove Keyser
from the bar. When Keyser refused repeated warnings to leave, Rende said, he
threatened to use his taser against him, to which Keyser allegedly replied, “Go
ahead.”
The newspaper reported that Rende has been accused of
conduct unbecoming an officer more than a dozen times during his career,
including an accusation in 1999 of engaging in sexual activity with a woman
after responding to her call for police assistance during his shift.
The witness who shot the video, Sam Urick, told the
newspaper he began filming the encounter out of concern over Keyser being
outnumbered by police. He said that when one officer asked him, “Is that gonna
be evidence?,” it confirmed his instincts.
“I thought if he is nervous about taping, maybe I should
keep taping,” Urick said.”
In the video, Rende can be seen pointing at one person and saying,
“Now you want to apologize? Then shut your mouth when the police are doing
something” before walking toward Keyser. Rende is seen pointing the taser at
Keyser as he was leaving the scene, at which point he falls to the ground.
The officer said in an affadavit he held the taser to
Keyser’s neck but did not release the charge. He also said he was willing to
have the device tested to prove it had not been used.
Elizabeth Pittinger, director of the city’s Citizen Police
Review Board, told the newspaper that after seeing Urick’s video, she thought
Keyser was obeying the order to disperse when Rende made his way toward him.
“I don’t know why the officer pursued him,” Pittinger said.
“That’s totally inappropriate.”
“Am I under arrest?” Keyser asked as more officers
approached.
“I’ve had about enough of you and your (expletive) act,”
Rende tells Keyser. “Shut the (expletive) up. You can’t act a human being, huh?
You’re a clown.”
“I tried to leave,” Keyser says. “You pushed me over.”
Rende then appears to notice Urick, telling him, “Take a
walk, dude, you’re not going in either. Get out of here. Get out of here.”
Watch video of Rende’s encounter with Keyser, posted by the
Post-Gazette on Monday, below.