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."
"HA, HA. Did you see the Chris Rock video on how not to get arrested?"
I know someone who's given copies to some troubled "yoots" in his community.
Cool, I have never heard of the Kumeyaay. I think I will google and get some more info. Nice to meet you.
"BTW, the way to handle POMS is to announce at dinner "Nobody's checking out to play this weekend until this pigsty is cleaned up!"
That's what I call "the nuclear option"
How humane .... just pepper spray her... you guys are a trip.
LOL. Why is it the when the sticks come out invariably someone will be filming nearby?
Because Law enforcement is truly governed by Murphy
Yoot's! Ha, ha...
You were SERIOUS about that?
In real world application, thats probably what I would have used in this situation when it denegrated into resisting arrest. All it does is burn the eyes and make breathing a little difficult (when it works.) It injures nobody.
"You were SERIOUS about that?"
The guy who was doing it sure was...
It makes the point; and it does so memorably.
By burn I mean irritate considerably.
The interesting thing about that film is that it really is instructional - the points really are practical and instructive...
The pepper spray would be less of a concern for a pregnant woman also.
No matter what is done to effect the arrest, it will be perceived as being too much. Most decisions made by Police officers aren't very popular
As long as policy and the law are complied with, and reasonable steps are taken to minimize risk to all parties, legal exposure to the officer and the city is
minimized.
I would hope at least one of the officers had a vehicle mounted camera that recorded the incident. Those can take a lot of steam out of unfounded complaints
Make no mistake about it, though, she would have gone to jail.
Ain't that the truth. This is interesting that this was a Seattle incident. IIRC when SPD was first issued tasers Chief Girlikowski and the local NAACP president, Carl Mack, actually tazed each other during a demonstration designed to show the public that tasers were a valid LE tool. Murphy's law here being that SPD went out of their way to demonstrate a way less than lethal force option and have the police brutality complaints stopped? Heck no.
They never will.
We have morphed into a "The rules apply to everyone but me" society
"Ma'am, you have a choice. You can come quietly, you can continue to resist arrest and get tased, you can continue to resist arrest and get pepper-sprayed, you can continue to resist arrest and get some stick time, or you can continue to resist arrest and get a bullet in your head. Which would be your preference, ma'am?"
Yeah, 32 mph in a SCHOOL ZONE. So, if a child had darted out into the strreet and this foolish woman had hit the child with her car because she couldn't stop in time because she'e driving 32 mph in a school zone, would you still have the same attitude?
Now there's a few choice words to bring an Internal Affairs complaint. No thanks... 8>) You're joking, right?
"Now there's a few choice words to bring an Internal Affairs complaint. No thanks... 8>) You're joking, right?"
I actually had to discuss with one of my troops why saying "We can do this the easy way or the hard way" was not appropriate during a traffic stop.
I am still not sure he gets it, but won't do it again because he doesn't want any more discussions of that type with me :)
"Now there's a few choice words to bring an Internal Affairs complaint. No thanks... 8>) You're joking, right?"
Well, they're griping about tasers now...
I suppose that they're going to have to have a law where the officer offers a menu of choices, and let the arrestee pick the consequence s/he wants.
("Hi, I'm Chad, and I'll be your law enforcement waitperson this evening...")
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