Federal lawsuit filed after Florida man dies following police stun gun incident
By Justin Schecker
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PALM BAY, Florida (WESH) — Thomas Farley, who was paralyzed after being stunned by a Palm Bay police officer in June 2024, passed away on June 19, 2025, after living for a year paralyzed from the mid-chest down.
The incident occurred near a Circle K when Farley fell headfirst from a six-foot fence after being shocked by a stun gun six times.
“I’m paralyzed, I can’t feel my feet. Sir, I think I broke my neck,” Farley said during the incident.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump announced Tuesday morning at a church in Eatonville that a federal lawsuit has been filed against the Palm Bay Police Department and the city of Palm Bay.
The lawsuit challenges the department’s stun gun policy, which attorneys argue is unconstitutional.
“It’s so foreseeable that you tase a person’s common offense is dangerous that they can fall and sustain critical, life-threatening injuries,” Crump said.
Farley’s mother, Pamela Farley, reflected on her son’s final moments.
“I stood by his side for a year. My children and I watched him take his last breath on June 19, 2025, and I will not let his name die in vain,” she said.
Attorney Josh Levin criticized the department’s stun gun policy, which he said allows officers to fire on individuals at elevated heights under “exigent circumstances,” a standard he described as “far, far, far lower than deadly force justification.”
Palm Bay police declined to comment on the lawsuit but referred to an October 2024 statement from a sergeant, which said an internal review “determined that the officer legally and justifiably used his Taser.”
Levin argued that officers had no reason to believe Farley posed a threat.
“They had no reason to believe that Thomas had done anything dangerous, that he posed any threat to them or anyone else,” Levin said.
The federal lawsuit also alleges that the officer involved had previously been investigated for deploying his stun gun on a man riding a moving dirt bike.
According to the complaint, the department’s second-highest-ranking official recommended the officer be terminated, but the department overruled the recommendation, kept the officer on the force, and even gave him a merit raise that year.
“But the department, they overruled their number two official, they kept this officer on the force, and get a lot of this; they gave him a merit raise that year,” Levin said.
Crump said the lawsuit seeks millions of dollars in damages.
“To deal with the enormity of all the medical bills, not to mention the value that none can be placed, and that is losing your firstborn, your child,” Crump said.
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