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The National Park Service is investigating an incident in which a visitor was shocked with a stun gun over the weekend by a park ranger at the Petroglyph National Monument in New Mexico.
Darrell House, a Native American and Marine veteran, was with his sister Sunday afternoon walking his dog at the park, where he often prays and meditates, according to news reports.
As he was walking, he moved off a trail to make way for a group of walkers and to adhere to social distance protocols, he said.
"This park ranger started following me, and he came out of nowhere and he got upset about that," House told KOB-TV. "I guess he was upset about me going off trail before, you know, doing my prayers for the rocks."
I guess he was upset about me going off trail before, you know, doing my prayers for the rocks.
A video House posted to Instagram shows the ranger asking him for identification, which he said he refused to provide. The ranger says House can be detained until he can be identified.
In another video recorded by his sister, House is on the ground being shocked with a stun gun by the ranger.
"I don't have any ID," House screams. "I'm a peaceful person, sir. Please, what do you want from me? You're escalating this."
The ranger repeatedly asks him to put his hands behind his back. House raises his hands and at times folds them in front of his chest while still calling for help.
House then complies with commands to sit down and is handcuffed as another ranger arrives.
"You’re being detained because you refused to identify yourself," the unidentified park ranger said. "If you resist, I will tase you."
House did not return messages from Fox News.
"I didn’t harm anyone," he told the television station. "I didn’t cause any harm to anybody. I wasn’t disorderly. I wasn’t on any substances. This has been going for years. I’m practicing my religious rights on my ancestral land."
The National Park Service said the case is being referred to the agency's internal affairs unit for review. House was cited for interfering with agency functions, concealing his identity and being off trail.
"While we work to gather the facts of this specific situation, we cannot speculate on the events leading up to what was captured on video," agency spokeswoman Vanessa Lacayo said.
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In a tweet, Albuquerque's Office of Equity and Inclusion called the video "disturbing" and said it reached out to the NPS and expects a "thorough, transparent, and speedy" investigation.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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