Just 16 seconds after Officer William May told Kasey Martin he was under arrest, Martin was on the ground with a Taser in his back. Police said he was “squaring up to fight.” 

Martin was initially charged with six felonies. Within days, prosecutors dropped every single one.

Newly released body-camera footage shows the Feb. 19 encounter outside Martin’s Glennwilde home. Two days earlier, his estranged wife accused him of entering her home without permission, grabbing her and taking her car keys. 

In the newly released body camera footage, Martin explains his side of the story, that he was retrieving a vehicle in his name, amidst a messy separation. It was going into the house that got Maricopa police to respond.  

“Do you understand that you still committed a few different crimes?” asks Officer May, standing calmly with Martin.  

“What crimes did I commit?”

“Trespassing, for one.”

“I wasn’t trespassing, I’ve been to her place many times was invited in,” claims May, with his arms crossed tightly against his chest

“You’re under arrest,” says Officer May.  

Officers move in to arrest Martin.  

When May and Officer J. Carrillo moved in to handcuff him, Martin is seen tensing his arms, clenching his fists and saying, “I’m not being arrested.”  

To officers, that was resisting arrest and refusing commands. Within seconds, May delivered a knee strike to Martin’s leg, forcing him to the ground. Carrillo pressed a Taser into Martin’s back and activated it. 

“Get on the ground,” officers shout.  

“I’m on the ground,” Martin responds.  

Martin’s demeanor is shockingly calm, given the circumstances. He asks for medical attention for his heart “that feels like it’s about to beat out of my chest” after the tasing. He asks for the officer’s badge numbers.

Both officers list their badge numbers and tell him to walk to a waiting squad car.  

“Walk to the f*cking car!” barks Officer May.  

“You need to calm down,” responds Martin.

Police listed six felonies in the arrest report: robbery, second-degree burglary, criminal trespass, domestic violence, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. 

By Feb. 24, the Pinal County Attorney’s Office had declined to prosecute the felonies. Prosecutors said the facts didn’t support the charges, noting the keys were for a vehicle registered to Martin, which undercut the robbery allegation, and that he had no prior felony record. They also said the resisting arrest allegation could not be treated as a felony.

The case was sent to the Maricopa city prosecutor, who filed three misdemeanor charges: domestic violence assault, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. Martin ultimately pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and received unsupervised probation with a deferred judgment. All other charges were dismissed. 

The City of Maricopa’s Use of Force Board determined the arrest complied with department policy and Arizona law, spokesperson Monica Williams told InMaricopa yesterday. The board said Martin’s actions — tensing his arms and stating “I’m not being arrested” — justified shooting him with a Taser.

Initially, May’s body-camera video was not released to InMaricopa despite a Freedom of Information Act request. The police department told reporters the footage did not exist, then later said the footage had been “inadvertently restricted” during an internal review, which kept it out of the initial search results for the request.

It’s one of multiple documented cases since 2023 of the city’s records department citing its own negligence in failing to acknowledge the existence of a public record in response to an InMaricopa request. “This has been corrected internally,” said Williams yesterday.

Martin declined to comment for this story, citing pending legal action against the city.