Pall Bearer Loading Father's Casket Into Hearse Tasered By Undercover Deputies

Wilmington, NC (AHN) - Five sheriff's deputies will be disciplined after two undercover deputies zapped a North Carolina man with a Taser while he was serving as a pall bearer at his father's funeral and loading the coffin into a hearse.

Another pall bearer said the incident was so frightening that the other pall bearers nearly dropped the casket of 70-year-old Gladwyn Taft Russ Jr., who was being buried with military honors.

New Hanover County Sheriff's deputies were trying to serve a warrant on the dead man's son, Gladwyn Taft Russ III, on charges of communicating a threat to his ex-wife, who lives in another state.

The threat was allegedly made on Aug. 6 and the warrant was issued on Aug. 7.

Russ III, 42, had allegedly threatened to kill his wife, who lives in another state. Deputies were supposed to wait until after the funeral was over. However, the two detectives dressed in coats and ties, who had not identified themselves to anyone as being law enforcement, decided to serve the warrant before the burial.

During the scuffle, one of the deputies' guns fell out of its holster and onto the ground. The alarmed mourners didn't know the armed men were law enforcement officials and some of them fled the funeral in fear.