A Tampa police officer who made a habit of taunting and roughing up suspects was fired this week following an internal investigation into a February traffic stop when he tased a Black man without giving him time to comply, then told him as he lay on the sidewalk, “You’re lucky I didn’t beat y ou up.” Officer Dukagjin Maxhuni’s most recent bad conduct was discovered during a routine quality assurance audit of body camera video by the Tampa Bay Police Department. The police department said that on February 25 Maxhuni and another officer tried to stop a Toyota Tundra pickup truck for a traffic violation, but the driver fled. The officers quickly located the vehicle, and the driver got out and began walking down a sidewalk. He put his hands up when he saw Maxhuni exit an unmarked police vehicle. A suspect in a traffic stop was tased by Tampa Police Officer Dukagjin Maxhuni on Feb 25, 2026. (Photo: Tampa Police Department video screenshot) ‘What Are You Doing?’: North Carolina Cops Punched Black Woman 17 Times, Then Violently Arrested Man Over a Single Cigarette. Now He’s Getting Payback “The defendant’s hands were visible and free of weapons,” a letter written by a police captain who later reviewed the incident stated, the Tampa Bay Times reported. Body Camera Footage Shows Violent Arrest Body camera footage released by the department shows Maxhuni ordering the suspect who was standing still with his hands raised to turn around before immediately tasing him. “Why you tasing me?” the man said after being hit with the first two darts from the taser. Maxhuni did not reply but deployed the taser two more times, hitting the man in the torso and legs, causing him to fall to the ground. After lying on the sidewalk unattended for several minutes, the letter said, Maxhuni made a series of “unprofessional remarks.” Again questioning why the officer tased him, the man said, “I got a bad heart!” “It be like that sometimes, big dog,” Maxhuni replied. “When you don’t listen — you’re lucky that I didn’t beat you up. Actually that’s usually my first thing to go to.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by 10 Tampa Bay News (@10tampabay) “’Beat you up?’” the man repeated. “Yeah, bro, listen, you couldn’t hang with me, dude.” “I don’t want to hang with you,” the man replied. “When you resist, you get messed up,” said Maxhuni. “Who was resisting?” the man asked. “Dummy, when I tell you to do something, and you don’t do it, that’s resisting.” Maxhuni also told the man it seems he farted or pooped his pants, and that “it stinks, dude. That’s gross.” Investigation Finds Cop Didn’t Act Appropriately Deputy Chief Eric DeFelice said investigators who reviewed the incident determined that Maxhuni didn’t reassess the situation or give the suspect adequate time to comply before using the taser, and that de-escalation tactics should have been used. He said the officer also violated department policy after the arrest by leaving the suspect unattended on the sidewalk and making “disparaging and belittling” comments throughout the arrest. Investigators concluded that his actions violated department policies related to standard of conduct, response to resistance and failure to comply. They also cited deficiencies in judgment, communication, prisoner care and professionalism. Another Maxhuni Incident Comes in Question Maxhuni’s behavior in the recent traffic stop recalled a 2022 incident for which he faced internal discipline. During a June 2022 narcotics arrest in the Ybor Heights neighborhood of Tampa, body camera footage captured Maxhuni cutting off the suspect, a young Black person, between a grocery store and a car, and knocking them to the ground, the Times reported. “You f—king broke my glasses you piece of sh-t,” Maxhuni said before turning around and walking towards a crowd of onlookers, most of whom appear to be Black. “That was one hell of a flying knee from me, guys,” Maxhuni can be heard saying, before later shouting, “You know who runs the streets and it ain’t y’all.” The department said at the time that Maxhuni violated the department’s standards of conduct and its “courtesy to the public” rules that dictate how officers should interact with citizens.“It was very similar behavior when he made the disparaging comments, unprovoked, to members of the community,” DeFelice said. “We do not condone that kind of behavior, and here again, four years later, we have that same behavior that’s establishing a pattern.” Officer Faces Discipline Following the 2022 incident, Maxhuni was disciplined with a written reprimand and removed from his squad and the neighborhood he served and transferred to a district covering South Tampa and downtown. The discipline “was designed to change his behavior,” DeFelice said, noting that “he didn’t change his course of action. And now we have an established pattern of negative behavior that just won’t be tolerated.” Maxhuni, who joined the department in 2013, was placed on administrative leave during the most recent internal investigation. While announcing his termination on Tuesday, Police Chief Lee Berclaw said Maxhuni’s conduct “represented a clear betrayal” of a public servant’s responsibility to treat everyone with dignity and respect. “Our community deserves better,” he said, adding that the officer’s conduct “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.” Police Union Vows to Fight Termination Brandon Barclay, president of the Tampa Police Benevolent Association, the police union, said Maxhuni is going to fight the termination through the grievance process. Of the body cam video, he told WFLA, “I know we’re looking at a snippet here and people are all upset about mean words, but we’ll see what they think about the case once they review all the evidence and not the selectively produced evidence provided by the city.” Of Maxhuni’s taunts and disparaging comments, he said, “The question becomes saying unprofessional words in an environment when we’re taking a violent felon into custody — Is that enough to be terminated for it?” Barclay observed that Maxhuni is still in the grievance process with the city but that the matter could go to arbitration. NAACP Argues Incident Raises Bigger Concerns Yvette Lewis, president of the Hillsborough County branch of the NAACP, told the Times in 2023 that the footage raised questions about how the department holds its officers accountable for negative interactions with the Black community, and she questioned why Maxhuni wasn’t fired for the incident. “Why does it take so long for TPD to recognize that some of their officers have some serious, serious discrimination problems, some serious issues with African Americans, serious issues with power and authority over the vulnerable community when they’re supposed to protect and serve,” Lewis said Tuesday after learning of the findings that led to Maxhuni’s firing. Lewis called on the department and Hillsborough State Attorney Suzy Lopez to conduct a thorough review of Maxhuni’s history with the department. “Every arrest, every conviction needs to be looked into,” Lewis said. A spokesperson for Lopez responded in a statement, “As part of our office’s law enforcement disclosure process, we will review any administrative findings or actions taken by TPD involving this officer and determine whether that information impacts any current criminal cases. “If TPD or another law enforcement agency forwards criminal charges to our office, we will review the evidence and make a filing decision based on the facts and Florida law. That is the role of the State Attorney’s Office, and we will follow that process here just as we would in any other case.” ‘You’re Lucky I Didn’t Beat You Up’: Tampa Cop Joins Unemployment Line After He’s Caught on Video Tasing and Threatening Black Suspect With Hands Raised ...read more read less