Texas cops in firing line again after tasering non-violent suspect

Nearly a year before a Texas police officer fatally shot an unarmed teenager, another cop used a Taser on a handcuffed suspect, recently released body cam video shows.

Disturbing leaked footage from the incident on April 28, 2016, shows two officers from Balch Springs police department arresting Marco Stephenson outside a suburban home.

Images show the man kneeling and seemingly co-operating, reports Fox News.

He tells them that he has done nothing wrong and the gun found nearby is a "BB gun", a pellet firing pistol and not a firearm.

But officers reply that he has been "perceived as a threat" and "that is the reason you are under arrest".

The police haul the man to his feet and began to cut the straps of his backpack as he protests his innocence. The situation then escalates.

One of the officers, a sergeant, draws a Taser pistol and tells Stephenson as he fires the stun device at him: “Don't pull away! You understand? You understand?”

As Stephenson falls to the ground, the sergeant tells him: "You get it?! You get it?!  Because I ain't playing with you today! Do you understand?"

Police chiefs said the sergeant who used the stun gun had been reprimanded but was not charged. 

The video was mailed to media outlets after the shooting death of 15-year-old Jordan Edwards earlier this month by a Balch Springs police officer, which is a separate and unrelated investigation.