Body-camera footage showed Officer Dukagjin Maxhuni deploying his Taser as a driver stood with his hands raised, then telling the detained man he was lucky the officer had not beaten him.
The Tampa Police Department fired a veteran officer after an internal investigation found that he repeatedly violated department policies while arresting a man who had fled an attempted traffic stop but later stopped and raised his hands.
Officer Dukagjin Maxhuni was terminated July 28 following an investigation by the department’s Professional Standards Bureau. Tampa Police said the investigation identified deficiencies involving Maxhuni’s judgment, communication, prisoner care and professionalism.
The investigation began when Maxhuni’s body-camera recording was selected for a routine quality-assurance review. The footage showed him deploying his department-issued Taser without giving the man adequate time to comply with an instruction to turn around, according to the department.
Maxhuni had worked for Tampa Police since April 2013 and had previously been disciplined for sustained conduct violations stemming from a separate 2022 narcotics operation.
Driver fled before officers found him again
The Feb. 25 encounter began when Maxhuni and another officer attempted to conduct a traffic stop as a two-officer unit.
The driver fled, but officers quickly found the vehicle in the 2900 block of West Walnut Street, according to Tampa Police.
By the time Maxhuni exited the passenger side of an unmarked police vehicle, the driver had gotten out of his vehicle and was walking away.
Police said the man stopped when he saw Maxhuni and raised his hands. Maxhuni instructed him to turn around while simultaneously activating his electronic-control device.
The department concluded that Maxhuni failed to reassess the situation or give the man sufficient time to follow the command before deploying the Taser. Another officer was already attempting to take the man into custody.
Available video reporting indicates that Maxhuni activated the device four times. The final activation caused the man to fall to the ground, where the second officer placed him in handcuffs.
The man can be heard on the recording asking why he was being tased.
Maxhuni responded that the man had fled and was not complying. But the department’s subsequent investigation concluded that Maxhuni had not allowed him adequate time to comply after he stopped and raised his hands.
The driver’s earlier flight provided officers with grounds to detain him. Tampa Police nevertheless determined that the circumstances confronting Maxhuni at the time of the Taser deployment did not justify the manner in which he used it.
Officer left the man unattended
Tampa Police said Maxhuni left him lying on the sidewalk unattended and made several unprofessional and disparaging comments.
When the man continued questioning why Maxhuni had used the Taser, the officer told him, “You’re lucky I didn’t beat you up.”
Maxhuni also told the detained man that he “couldn’t hang” with the officer and made additional comments about what happens to people who resist.
The Professional Standards Bureau ultimately sustained violations involving standard of conduct, response to resistance and failure to comply with department policies and its philosophy of enforcement.
Police Chief Lee Bercaw said treating people with dignity and respect is a fundamental obligation of Tampa officers. He characterized Maxhuni’s behavior as a betrayal of that responsibility and said it did not reflect the department’s approximately 1,000 other officers.
“Our community deserves better,” Bercaw said in announcing the termination.
Body-camera review initiated the investigation
The department said the investigation began through a routine quality-assurance review of body-worn-camera footage.
That detail is significant because Tampa Police has not publicly identified a civilian complaint as the reason Maxhuni’s conduct was examined. The internal review system appears to have flagged the recording and led the Professional Standards Bureau to investigate.
Body cameras are frequently discussed as tools for resolving complaints after a disputed encounter. Routine auditing can serve a separate function by identifying conduct even when a detained person does not know how—or does not feel able—to file a formal complaint.
The department’s announcement does not explain how recordings are selected for quality review, how frequently those reviews occur or whether another officer or supervisor documented concerns about Maxhuni’s conduct before the recording was examined.
The complete internal-investigation file could answer those questions, including whether supervisors reviewed the Taser deployments shortly after the arrest and whether the second officer reported any concerns.
Maxhuni had previously been disciplined
The February incident was not Maxhuni’s first sustained disciplinary case involving his treatment of members of the public.
Tampa Police said he was disciplined following a 2022 “Buy Bust” operation conducted near North 15th Street and East 26th Avenue.
Body-camera footage from that earlier incident showed Maxhuni bragging about using a “flying knee” while helping arrest a suspect and then taunting and cursing at nearby residents.
In the recording, Maxhuni challenged people in the crowd and told them that police—not residents—controlled the streets.
The department sustained violations involving courtesy to the public and standard of conduct. Chief Bercaw said at the time that Maxhuni was disciplined and removed from his squad and the neighborhood where he had served.
Yvette Lewis, president of the Hillsborough County branch of the NAACP, criticized the earlier punishment as inadequate. She said the conduct damaged trust between law enforcement and the Black community and made residents less likely to cooperate with police.
The 2026 termination raises additional questions about whether the earlier discipline included remedial training or heightened supervision—and whether stronger intervention in 2022 could have prevented the conduct documented four years later.
Tampa Police’s public announcement did not specify the precise punishment imposed in the earlier case.
Records could provide a fuller account
The department has released an edited video and a summary of its conclusions, but several important facts remain absent from the publicly available account.
The driver has not been identified in the department’s announcement, and it does not specify the traffic violation that led to the original attempted stop, the charges filed after his arrest or whether he required medical treatment following the Taser activations.
The announcement also does not identify the second officer, describe that officer’s actions in detail or state whether a supervisor reviewed the use of force before the routine body-camera audit.
The complete internal-affairs investigation, unedited recordings, Taser activation data, use-of-force reviews and Maxhuni’s disciplinary history would provide a clearer timeline.
Those records could also show whether Maxhuni has challenged his termination through a grievance, arbitration or another administrative process.
For now, the department’s findings establish that the driver’s decision to flee did not excuse everything that happened once officers encountered him again.
By Tampa Police’s own account, the man had stopped and raised his hands. Maxhuni was required to reassess the circumstances and give him a meaningful opportunity to comply before using force.
The department concluded that he did neither.
Sources & Editorial Note
This article is based principally on the Tampa Police Department’s July 28 termination announcement and the body-camera recording released by the department.
Descriptions of the number of Taser activations and statements captured on the recording are supported by reporting from FOX 13 Tampa Bay and Police1.
The account of Maxhuni’s 2022 conduct and criticism of the resulting discipline is supported by contemporary reporting from Tampa Bay 28 and the Tampa Bay Times.
The article distinguishes between the driver’s reported flight from the original traffic stop and his conduct when officers subsequently encountered him. Tampa Police—not an outside court—determined that Maxhuni failed to reassess the situation or give the driver adequate time to comply before deploying his Taser.
The publicly available materials reviewed do not identify the driver, state the original reason for the traffic stop, list the charges filed against him or disclose whether Maxhuni has appealed his termination. Those matters should be updated if additional records become available.
