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."
They should all be fired and she needs to spend some time in jail.
Good idea there.
Means if you resist arrest enough you can get a cop thrown in jail.
An order from a cop in not an invitation to play "20 questions"
Keep thinking that way and pretty soon instead of doing their jobs the cop will be left with say "Ok fine - never mind"
32 in a school zone is way too fast and deserves a hefty ticket.
Tasering a pregnant woman is a bad idea.
"Unborn fetus" remark makes me sad for the baby.
Everyone should know the rules. Driving is a privilege.
I venture that all that "research" was done by self-interested rather than impartial groups and no one can tell what the long term effects will be on the "healthy" child because there is nothing that insures that some of the brain centers or other neurological foundations are still unscathed.
If she turns out autistic or otherwise impaired I hope they take the city for everything.
It is totally pathetic that the police force can't even manage a pregnant woman without using their violent weapons.
bump
"the need to stop the behavior should clearly justify the potential for additional risks. As for the rest of the citizens, f#@k 'em. They'll get no sympathy in court." /sarcasm
No problem
In these types of threads, I avoid trying to second guess anyone, because the I was not on scene, and newspaper reporting sucks.
I prefer to explain the law as it relates to procedure nd general police policies. People can take that info for what it's worth and make their own judgement
I don't get this. In our form of Government there are rights vs. powers. We have rights and the government has powers.
Are you saying that our government has the power to give and take priviledges.
They got this invalid power from us and we can take it away at any time.
I don't think the TASER was the appropriate tool to use in this situation.
I'm skeptical that there is enough evidence to determine if a TASER could induce labor, but I don't think that risking harm to an unborn child due to the irresponsible acts of the mother is acceptable.
It would have been better if they had pried her hands off of the steering wheel. If they couldn't pry them lose, then they may have needed to use more force, such as a baton.
This woman has no grounds for a lawsuit. The child was born healthy and she suffered nothing that she did not bring on herself.
The purpose of the signature on the ticket is identification. If someone disputes that they were the person given the ticket, signatures are compared. Someone giving someone else's ID when stopped for speeding is unfortunately not that uncommon.
The police did what they had to do. I only question the use of the TASER in this case because she was pregnant.
Depending on her stature it may not have been obvious that she was pregnant, but assuming that it was obvious they made a very bad mistake that fortunately didn't have a bad outcome.
"Tasering an eight month pregnant woman is way over the line!"
For sure, but Malika and the baby are about to get paid! Big time!
Signing the ticket is for identification purposes. There actually is a significant problem with people using a fake ID with somone else's valid identification. The requirement of the signature is to protect innocent people from being stuck with other people's fines.
See Post 30.
It may answer other questions you may have
"I noticed the same line, but mostly because I cannot imagine the sort of person that still thinks of their baby at this stage of development as a 'fetus'."
She is already using the legal term that her lawyer will use when she sues the sh-t out of the city! Work it Malika!
Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "thunder thighs."
"I'm surprised that Officer Juan didnt get slapped with racial prejudice charges as well"
Believe me, It ain't too far off. That is a default setting for these sthings and once a Johnny Cochran wannabe gets his hooks in it, the circus will begin
Seig Heil.
In the past, special consideration has always been given to pregnant women because no matter how big a scofflaw she is, the baby hasn't done anything wrong. Now cops will trounce on a pregnant woman who can't possibly be a real threat, endangering the life of the baby.
Sounds like you think it is "just a lump of tissue" too?
Once you finish your reading comprehension class, you can go back and see that nowhere in my post did I suggest she should get a free pass.
...but why does sound reasoning and the caring of the mother only show its ugly head AFTER the pregnant lady has been tasered? She is the one that refered to "it" as an "unborn fetus".
Its not a baby until its born when the mother wants to kill her unborn, but its a baby and alive when something has gone wrong and there are deep pockets around!
Sounds like both ways to me.
Yes, she is a real piece of work. She belongs in jail.
But her lack of concern for anything except what she wants right now isn't the baby's fault.
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