Posted on 05/10/2005 1:51:41 AM PDT by Stoat
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Tuesday, May 10, 2005 Police used Taser on pregnant driver 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.
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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."
Talk about a sexual harassment suit!
8-)
We have to draw a line somewhere. Argue about the specific mph all you want, but where I live, the school zones are congested. Not only are there kids and busses around, there are people trying to enter/exit the school driveway. Like it or not, there is a public safety concern and the speed limit slows everyone down for a reason.
As far as limits posted according to what "safety dictates", who decides? What is safe for some may not be safe for others. We elect people to run governments to decide.
I already know that. Now define the action you would have take place instead. Bearing in mind that speeding through a school zone is one of those pesky little misdemeanors that can get your or my children killed. And that probably the law in the State of Washington requires either a signature in lieu of bail or posting bond to assure appearance in court.
Now, back to the question at hand: what would you have the officer do?
What would you have the officers do?
I drive through 2 school zones everyday. Even 20 MPH is too fast when kids don't pay attention to traffic.
Your comments are extremely interesting. Now, suppose the law in Washington State requires either a signature on the ticket in lieu of bond for a misdemeanor traffic arrest, or a bond posted, what would you have the officer do? He has a burden on him placed there by the State of Washington to arrest the driver, and to legally secure her appearance in court. Should she refuse the signature, she and she alone is placing the additional burden upon the officer to use reasonable and necessary force to place the driver under physical control.
So, with all these givens, what would you have the officer do? Use a nightstick?
It looks like you got plenty of answers in your question to me, all of which support my assertion that it was wrong to taser an eight month pregnant woman. The woman could have been arrested at home at a later time, or perhaps backup should have been called in this case. I'll ask my son, who is a police officer, what he would have done, and report back to this thread.
I am certainly glad that you do not think enforcing speed limits through school zones is important. Please be advised that the rest of us with children do, however, think it is extremely important.
Lololol. Never thought of that. You're probably right.
How often do you drop your kids off at school?
NOT taser the chick.
You would not beat mine.
Your signature was in lieu of bail.
You ever try to hook up a wrecker to a car with a woman at the wheel with her keys in her possession? You really do want to get somebody killed, don't you.
Well, I've never liked tasers. Too chancy for my tastes. I would have used a triangle hold with a nightstick. No bruises, no damage because you are not striking the individual and immediate compliance. Then the war would have been over and I would definitely not let her ever sign a ticket again.
Even 20 MPH is too fast when kids don't pay attention to traffic.
How often do you drop your kids off at school?
You would not beat mine.
Now you need to admit that 32MPH is not an absolutely dangerous speed...if that were so, then there would not be 35MPH school zones ANYWHERE.
Boot her car.
Now what's she gonna do????
A thinking cop will have solutions other than tasering her.
I know, I know.... the impossibility of a "thinking" cop....
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