Foul-Mouthed Chicagoan Tasered at Orland Mall After Hurling Insults at Hispanic Workers

A man who harassed a female and Hispanic workers at Orland Square Mall was Tasered twice on March 13 as he fled arrest, police said.

John P. Keefe, 44, of the 2000 block of 76th Street in Chicago, was charged with breach of peace, criminal trespass and resisting arrest after causing a disturbance in the mall, police said.

Keefe rattled the locked doors of a mall store around 6:45 p.m. while shouting curse words and making obscene gestures to a female employee, according to an Orland Park police report. He then walked into the food court where he approached a group of Hispanic workers and berated them for being “illegal” and “stealing American jobs,” police said.

Police said they were called when Keefe refused to be escorted out of the mall by security. Once outside, the 44 year old took off running around the side of the building, where police fired their first Taser shot from a distance of about 10 feet. It did little to deter him, according to police, as he got back up and tried to run.

At this point an officer tackled him to the ground, police said, but Keefe still resisted handcuffing. Police then fired a second Taser shot.

Orland Park Police Lt. James Bianchi wasn't there but believes the first round of Taser probes struck Keefe’s shirt rather than his body.

“If you don’t get a good contact on him, it might not get the connection,” he said, noting that Keefe’s shirt was made of cotton, which isn’t a good conductor of electricity.