Fort Myers Police use of force probed: Officers used Taser, pepper spray, batons on Black Man

• Man had Stolen CD's from Store

Fort Myers police say Franklin Pierre stole 10 CDs Wednesday from a store on Fowler Street. Pierre was eventually taken into custody near Dunbar Community School, but not before officers used a Taser, pepper spray and metal batons on the 5-foot 9-inch, 250-pound man. Top police brass are now investigating the use of force by the officers involved in the incident. All their names were not available Thursday. Pierre was charged with shoplifting and resisting an officer with violence. His father paid $500 Thursday to bail him out of jail. Fort Myers police Maj. Doug Baker said an initial review of the case shows Pierre, 28, of 2940 Broadway St., was not responding to verbal commands to stop resisting the officers. A review of a surveillance camera mounted in a police cruiser shows proof that officers told Pierre to stop resisting or get down 22 times, Baker said. The video did not capture the whole incident, Baker said, but it did pick up voices from Pierre and officers.  Sylonia Williams, a retired Fort Myers police records clerk, saw police beating the man in the street from her home at the intersection of Blount and High streets. She said the barefooted man in a white T-shirt was up against the hood of a police car. She saw six or eight officers there. "I couldn't understand why it took so many officers," she said. "I asked (the officers) what it was all about and they didn't tell me. I heard the police say, 'go down man, go down.' [more]