Women gets tazered 8 months pregnant

Women gets tazered 8 months pregnant

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/223578_taser10.html



Tuesday, May 10, 2005

Pregnant woman 'Tasered' by police is convicted

By HECTOR CASTRO
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

She was rushing her son to school. She was eight months pregnant. And she was about to get a speeding ticket she didn't think she deserved.

So when a Seattle police officer presented the ticket to Malaika Brooks, she refused to sign it. In the ensuing confrontation, she suffered burns from a police Taser, an electric stun device that delivers 50,000 volts.

"Probably the worst thing that ever happened to me," Brooks said, in describing that morning during her criminal trial last week on charges of refusing to obey an officer and resisting arrest.

She was found guilty of the first charge because she never signed the ticket, but the Seattle Municipal Court jury could not decide whether she resisted arrest, the reason the Taser was applied.

To her attorneys and critics of police use of Tasers, Brooks' case is an example of police overreaction.

"It's pretty extraordinary that they should have used a Taser in this case," said Lisa Daugaard, a public defender familiar with the case.

Law enforcement officers have said they see Tasers as a tool that can benefit the public by reducing injuries to police and the citizens they arrest.

Seattle police officials declined to comment on this case, citing concerns that Brooks might file a civil lawsuit.

But King County sheriff's Sgt. Donald Davis, who works on the county's Taser policy, said the use of force is a balancing act for law enforcement.

"It just doesn't look good to the public," he said.

Brooks' run-in with police Nov. 23 came six months before Seattle adopted a new policy on Taser use that guides officers on how to deal with pregnant women, the very young, the very old and the infirm. When used on such subjects, the policy states, "the need to stop the behavior should clearly justify the potential for additional risks."

"Obviously, (law enforcement agencies) don't want to use a Taser on young children, pregnant woman or elderly people," Davis said. "But if in your policy you deliberately exclude a segment of the population, then you have potentially closed off a tool that could have ended a confrontation."

Brooks was stopped in the 8300 block of Beacon Avenue South, just outside the African American Academy, while dropping her son off for school.

In a two-day trial that ended Friday, the officer involved, Officer Juan Ornelas, testified he clocked Brooks' Dodge Intrepid doing 32 mph in a 20-mph school zone.

He motioned her over and tried to write her a ticket, but she wouldn't sign it, even when he explained that signing it didn't mean she was admitting guilt.

Brooks, in her testimony, said she believed she could accept a ticket without signing for it, which she had done once before.

"I said, 'Well, I'll take the ticket, but I won't sign it,' " Brooks testified.

Officer Donald Jones joined Ornelas in trying to persuade Brooks to sign the ticket. They then called on their supervisor, Sgt. Steve Daman.

He authorized them to arrest her when she continued to refuse.

The officers testified they struggled to get Brooks out of her car but could not because she kept a grip on her steering wheel.

And that's when Jones brought out the Taser.

Brooks testified she didn't even know what it was when Jones showed it to her and pulled the trigger, allowing her to hear the crackle of 50,000 volts of electricity.

The officers testified that was meant as a final warning, as a way to demonstrate the device was painful and that Brooks should comply with their orders.

When she still did not exit her car, Jones applied the Taser.

In his testimony, the Taser officer said he pressed the prongs of the muzzle against Brooks' thigh to no effect. So he applied it twice to her exposed neck.

Afterward, he and the others testified, Ornelas pushed Brooks out of the car while Jones pulled.

She was taken to the ground, handcuffed and placed in a patrol car, the officers testified.

She told jurors the officer also used the device on her arm, and showed them a dark, brown burn to her thigh, a large, red welt on her arm and a lump on her neck, all marks she said came from the Taser application.

At the South Precinct, Seattle fire medics examined Brooks, confirmed she was pregnant and recommended she be evaluated at Harborview Medical Center.

Brooks said she was worried about the effect the trauma and the Taser might have on her baby, but she delivered a healthy girl Jan. 31.

Still, she said, she remains shocked that a simple traffic stop could result in her arrest.

"As police officers, they could have hurt me seriously. They could have hurt my unborn fetus," she said.

"All because of a traffic ticket. Is this what it's come down to?"

Davis said Tasers remain a valuable tool, and that situations like Brooks' are avoidable.

"I know the Taser is controversial in all these situations where it seems so egregious," he said. "Why use a Taser in a simple traffic stop? Well, the citizen has made it more of a problem. It's no longer a traffic stop. This is now a confrontation."

damn that's fucked up, I'd rather would've called some back up instead and worked it out some other way but why in the fuck would u taser a 8 month pregnant woman? wtf is wrong with that stupid cop..... *slap*

it was within his legal limit to tazer her

yea I know that but still dood, don't taser a pregnant woman man. To me he over reacted

he should have just shot her..... one less problem

Look man I don't know you very well but some of the comments you make I don't like man, including this one.

he didnt over react... he did what the law allowed him to do i could care less if the women was having ten kids just sign the ticket and fight it in court... the time to debate isnt when u are getting the ticket your only going to get in more trouble

nope I still think that he shouldn't have tased her.... over the line I still think.

i wish you could see me.... i care OH SO much

I hate the fucking media. They are so damn hard on cops. First they bitch about police chases being to dangerous, so the cops break off from police chases. Then when that person they let go, ends up killing someone, the liberal media wonders why the cops didn't do more?

So now we look at cases like this. If the pregnant woman was getting all violent and shit, and hitting the officer, if the officer would have thrown her to the ground to get her under control, the media would have called that excessive force since she's all pregnant and shit. So he uses a tazer and takes her out. Now that's excessive force also. What the hell do you want?

Shouldn't some blame be put on the pregnant lady? So she thought the ticket was bullshit? She could have taken it to court and showed why the ticket was never justified. Oh but wait, if she was rushing to drop her kid off from SCHOOL, that probably means she was driving faster than the allowed speed in a school zone. Where most likely elementary school children are walking everyday. Kids so stupid to not look for cars before crossing the road! Maybe before you start defending her, you should think about all the children's lives she endangered all because she was a little behind schedule.

I agree, she deserved it. "I'll take the ticket but I'm not going to sign it! OMG no" and then she's gripping the steering wheel like a retard while they try to arrest her. People like this are idiots. I deal with them all the time.

And what makes you think that the officers knew she was pregnant?

There are people that are so fat it's really hard to tell they're pregnant. There was at least one girl who was so fat she didn't know she was pregnant until she went into labor.

Either way, if she knew she was pregnant (which i'm sure she did), she should have been thinking about the baby more than the stupid ticket.

Eh, she could have been morbidly obese, you wouldn't have known she was pregnant. Who knows.

It was stupid for her to resist arrest. Got what she deserved. SHE endangered her child, not the police officer.

he was not wrong for tazing her, look on of the things they said on the article "Law enforcement officers have said they see Tasers as a tool that can benefit the public by reducing injuries to police and the citizens they arrest.
" if he did not used the tazer, she could have easily endanger her baby by yelling and screaming and who know what else she might do. I think it was justified. She should have just signed the ticket and then fight it in court is she beleives she is truly innocent.

she was clocked going 12 over in a school speedzone. gauranteed idve got yanked out of my car for that here in vegas.... if youre asking me, she was being irrational and un-cooperative.

she acted in a way that obviuosly would have put her into more of a problem than simply signing the ticket, including putting her unborn child at risk.
The cop was in the right doing what he did, dealing with someone who was just completely out of their mind for acting in a way that was bad for more than one person.

she should be brought up on child endangerment for her child

Yes she was stupid, and a complete moron for what she did.

She shouldn't have been tasered.

Somehow I wonder how dangerous an 8 month pregnant women can be to an athletic, trained officer. I wonder how on earth the officer could not realize she was pregnant. I also fail to see how she threatened the officer by refusing to leave the vehicle. It's one thing if she's rushing them with a knife, and refuses to stop...but this situation does not justify the use of a Taser.

They could've tried pepper spray. That would've been appropriate for someone who is (semi) passively resisting police.

Tasers are meant to stop a grown man cold in his tracks. Who knows how messed up a small baby will be years down the road.

Once again, there was no immediate threat to the officer. This so-called "tool" was misused to make the officer's life a little easier. I don't need to remind you that people have died from Tasers...he risked her life and the life of her child just to get her out of a car.

Forgot to add: I hope she loses her license for 12 over in a school zone. :thumbsdow

I think she's fully responsible for her actions. She's right when she said,

"As police officers, they could have hurt me seriously. They could have hurt my unborn fetus," she said.

"All because of a traffic ticket. Is this what it's come down to?"

That's right, realizing that, she should've signed the ticket because it wasn't worth hurting herself or her child. BTW, the same deal would've probably been made for pepper spray.

Agreed.

Man, just cause she is a lady and just cause she is pregnant she thinks she is different than everyone else that resists arrest. It's a simple fact: if you resist arrest, you get the beat down by cops dirty style, cause, man, if I ever got as bored as cops do and I had the authority to kick peoples' asses, I'd whip out the baton and go to town. Haha, just kidding about the last part, but seriously if you resist arrest you have to be subdued.

Boo hoo, so the lady got a few burn marks from a tazer. Nothing permanent happened to her or her stupid baby, so why doesn't she take her femenism back to her womans' self defense class and get on with her life. Damn.

Take with a grain of salt as I don't have anything against femenism but sometimes it just gets annoying with the over-confident ones.

It's simple, she was resisting arrest. It's pretty fucking hard to break the hold of someone that's "delicate" to begin with. Watch the show "cops" and you'll see how many times they have to use force because it's really hard to get someone under control. They struggle enough, then when you factor in a small opening of a car, the officers don't exactly have much room to work.

And don't give that crap about using pepper spray, if that happened, you'd of called it unnecessary force. Face it, the cops were in a no win situation. Only way she wouldn't have bitch would be if the cops just let that bitch go.

Oh, and since tasers have killed people, maybe you should compare that number to how many children have been run over by cars while walking to school. Or maybe how many officers have been killed in the line of duty. Guarantee you both statistics are higher than a fucking taser gun which has killed maybe 2 or 3 people, all of which probably had health problems to begin with as opposed to an "athletic, trained officer" or a child who's barely been to the doctor.

a taser is concidered a non-leathel wepon... ok yes a wepon but the cold hard fact is that she was resisting arrest.. if I had done that same thing or anybody on here had done that same thing it would have come to the same outcome... or worse.. I think she deserved it just like every body else who resists arrest.. it was fully in line with that officers duty to do what ever he needed to do to get her out of the car.

right on the ball eric

I was seeing the same thing... but at least for once we agree on a point

nice to see that a majority of us agree

I agree, tag her and bag her. She obviously deserves the darwin award for this show of excellence. I'm glad they convicted her ass though because she didn't have any regard for her unborn child and places soal blame on the PD which is bullshit. I'm sorry but if some cop whips out a taser and gives me a demo I'm going to piss myself and roll out of the car sweet talking the dude. Besides this lady probably had 12 children at home already and was hoping that the taser would abort this one so she could get some money from the government for a wrongful death suit against the PD. Well I'm glad her stupid ass plan backfired. Plus that whole race card bullshit is starting to piss me off. I mean Come on... 'Malaika'?. We're sure to hear more about this from the NAACP on the news. This is going to be another one of those cases like the black dude in seattle that got shot for rolling the window up on a seattle police officers arm and draging him down the street. The NAACP will play the whole 'The black guy was scared of the white cops' bullshit and try to get money for it. B U L L S H I T I say Anyways I'm done venting about it. How is everyone doing these days

Sad, but true