A Native American man in New Mexico said a park ranger shot him with a stun gun after the man walked off a hiking trail.
Video captured the moment when Darrel House, 30, cried out after being struck by a stun gun at Petroglyph National Monument in Albuquerque on Sunday.
House, who is Oneida and Navajo, said he was out walking with his sister and his dog when he was stopped by a park ranger, who told him to get back onto the trail that he had veered off.
Though a video recorded by House doesn’t show the events leading up to the violent confrontation, the ranger can be heard asking House, a former Marine, for his identification. After refusing to show his ID, House gives the ranger a fake name.
“I didn’t see a reason to give my identification,” House told NBC News on Tuesday after the footage went viral. “I don’t need to tell people why I’m coming there to pray and give things in honour to the land. I don’t need permission or consent. And I don’t think he liked that very much.”
In a separate video recorded by his sister, House is seen writhing on the ground after being struck by the ranger’s stun gun.
“I don’t have anything,” House says on the video. “I apologise for going off the trail.”
Vanessa Lacayo, a spokesperson for the National Park Service, told NBC News that the agency is investigating. “We take any allegation of wrongdoing very seriously, and appreciate the public’s patience as we gather the facts of this incident,” Lacayo said in an email.
House told NBC News that he was arrested and ticketed for three offenses: being off trail, interfering with agency function and resisting, and giving a false identity.
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