Undercover officers use Taser on pallbearer

Authorities in North Carolina are apologizing for disturbing a funeral and tasering one of the pallbearers.

By: Associated Press | Alabama's13.com
Published: November 19, 2008

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WILMINGTON, N.C. (AP) - Authorities in North Carolina are apologizing for disturbing a funeral and tasering one of the pallbearers.

The Star-News of Wilmington says undercover agents decided to serve an arrest warrant on the son of the man who was being buried - as his coffin was being loaded into a hearse.

Relatives say the two deputies were dressed in coats and ties and grabbed the man and kneed him in the back. Then they tasered him.

The funeral was plunged into chaos and a pallbearer says "we almost dropped the casket."

The officers had planned to quietly arrest Gladwyn Taft Russ III, who's accused of threatening his ex-wife. He had agreed to surrender after the funeral.

The county's sheriff's office says the agents should have waited until after services had ended.