A crowd of protesters gathered on the steps of an old courthouse in southern Pennsylvania on Friday evening, one day after a video posted on social media showed a local officer using a Taser on an unarmed black man sitting on a sidewalk.
The dozens of demonstrators outside Lancaster County Courthouse were calling for an end to police brutality and an external investigation into the police officer's use of force.
"I think there needs to be higher police accountability to the community," one of the protesters, Brandon Roe of Lancaster County, told ABC affiliate WHTM. "It just shows the numbers in solidarity that this movement has, that we need more respect for people's rights, the rights of the accused, the rights of our communities to be treated with respect."
"It's not OK for police to treat some people different than others," another protester, Malinda Harnish Clatterbuck of nearby Fayette County, told WHTM. "When it's a systematic problem, then I think there has to be a systematic response."
Sean Williams, the 27-year-old shown in the video having the Taser used on him, was at the rally Friday night. He declined to speak to reporters on camera, but thanked the media for being there, according to WHTM.
The widely-shared video of the incident, taken by a bystander, shows at least two police officers ordering Williams to sit down on a sidewalk curb in Lancaster. Williams complies.
The officers then repeatedly direct Williams to put his legs "straight out" in front of him.
"Legs straight out or you're getting tased," a male officer standing behind Williams can be heard saying in the video, with his Taser drawn.
"Put your legs straight out and cross them now," a female officer yells.
Williams appears to begin following the officers' orders by straightening his legs but then folds them back again. That's when the male officer fires his Taser.
Williams writhes in pain on the ground, with the Taser's dart-like probes attached to his back. The male officer then orders Williams to stay flat on his stomach with his "arms out like an airplane."
More officers then arrive on the scene, and Williams is placed in handcuffs.