This Florida lawsuit involves a taser, an apology cake, and an internet hoax

A taser.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Emily Post never established the etiquette for what to do when you tase someone, but it stands to reason the proper protocol does not involve sending that person a cake with the icing apology, "Sorry I Tased You."

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Florida resident Stephanie Byron has filed a lawsuit against Michael Wohlers, a former Escambia County sheriff's deputy, claiming that in June 2015, he stopped by the apartment complex where she worked, and used his "apparent law enforcement authority to intimidate, harass, and threaten" her. Her attorney says at one point, Wohlers took Byron's sweet tea, and as she went to retrieve it, he fired his stun gun at her, then kneed her in the chest, The Associated Press reports. The lawsuit claims that Wohlers told his superiors that he mistakenly fired the taser into a pillow at his house.

Later, Byron says Wohlers presented her with the homemade cake, featuring stick figures, what appears to be a taser with wires coming out of it, and the sugary expression of regret. A photo of the edible apology was entered into the court file, but as Gizmodo reports, it's not the same photo that is going viral on social media — that image was uploaded to the internet at least a year before Byron's alleged tasing. Her attorney says that "the cake Wohlers baked provides his version of the encounter and clearly shows a person, Wohlers, firing the taser at Ms. Byron," but Wohlers, who resigned from the sheriff's department last year, denies any wrongdoing. Next time, send pie.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.