Horrifying audio of pregnant woman tasered

[doodadem]

Remember the pregnant woman in Florida getting tasered? They played the actual police audio from that on Democracy Now this morning. It was just horrifying. This woman is in her SUV and I think her jammies, trying to get her kid to school on time. Of course, she's pulled over for speeding just after she drops the kid off. Well, then they see her license has been suspended, and she has a cracked window and a broken tailight on her SUV. The cop orders her out of the car. Now...why would he do that? The next you hear, she's on her cell phone telling someone what's going on, sounding panic'd, and you hear the cop saying, put the phone down and get out of the car or I'm going to taser you. You hear her getting really hysterical and telling the person on the phone, he has a gun and he says he's going to shoot me! Then you hear her just screaming and screaming and crying, and the tape ends.
The official report says the cop acted appropriately. Now, this is a pregnant woman in her pajamas, just trying to get her kid to school, pulled over for a routine traffic stop. I wouldn't have gotten out of the car either if I thought this guy was going to zap me! At least her kid was already out of the car.
What the hell are we coming to? If tasers were taken out of the equation, I am sure they would not be SHOOTING all these same people.
If you go to Democracynow.org, you can order the tape of the show.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. broken tail light AND suspencded licence is

probable cause.

She SHOULD have complied with all orders from the cop.

Now did the cop go overboard? Maybe and if you get the tasers out of the equation you betcha police involved shootings will go up

On edit, we are getting way too many of these out of Florida, so you do have a point that the officers need to go back for training on apropriate use of force, but you do not call someobdy else on a cell when you are at a traffic stop

[FreedomAngel82]

2. They shouldn't taser someone pregnant though

Couldn't that effect the baby?

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. Ok will ask the obvious qustion

was she showing her pregnancy?

As to the baby, the anwer is we don't know

[lenidog]

48. Can't positively tell

I just watched the video and they are not of great quality and she was parked in the shade and wearing dark clothes. It didn't look like she was shwoing but I can't be sure.

[SemperEadem]

14. IMO, a broken taillight is a bullshit excuse to stop someone

it amazes me that they have nothing better to do than to harass someone's whose taillight is broken. The speeding aspect, I can understand for being pulled over, but a broken taillight? That's a cop with nothing but harassment and power-tripping on his mind to me.

Anyway you cut it, using a taser on a pregnant woman, no matter the reason is bad judgement. The baby runs the risk of being put in danger due to the changing physiological enviroment its mother endures due to being stopped by a tasing cop. If tasing results in the death of the fetus, should that cop be charged with the federal fetus protection statutes? I think so. It was intentional that he tased the woman, not accident.

[nadinbrzezinski]

18. How about going twice the speed limit

is taht a bulshit reason too? The broken tail light is a fix a ticket

the going over the speed limit is a real ticket

[SemperEadem]

63. you must have not read what I wrote in the second sentence

The speeding aspect, I can understand for being pulled over

too busy arguing to read correctly I suppose.

[seabeyond]

15. and suspended liscence and broken window hurts no one

and she is in her jammies. there is no reason a grown man who has a brain, cant be a little sympathitic and allow her to stay in the car. he was abusive, he was abusing his power and he created that. she should have been able to say, i am in jammies, may i stay in car. and he should of said of course. the end

it is silliness. and it is greater silliness defending this abuse of power, hurting another person, by stating, she broke a law. you j walk you break the law. doesnt warrant a tasering. we dont have to become blithering zombied idiots, so we wont be abused by our cops.

[sir_captain]

23. He was abusive?

Have you watched the video? He was extremely polite and patient--she was the one being abusive. He asked her very politely to step out of the car--she said no. He opened the door and attempted to remove her from the car--she physically resisted, which is a crime. He then warned her six times that if she did not exit the vehicle, he would tase her--she ignored him, continued to talk on the phone, and he tased her.

[lenidog]

46. He was not abusive at all

I just watched the videos. He as polite even when she was giving him shit. Which started even before he approached the car and continued after he left the car to make a radio call.

[frylock]

36. she was driving 52 mph in a 35 zone..

what if a child had run out in the street and been run down? She was ASKED several times to step out of the vehicle. She was driving with a suspended license; an arrestable offense. I am amazed by the amount of people on this board who want to hate the police for the sake of hating. Do yourself a favor, and participate in a police ride-along. It's a difficult and thankless job. Are there officers out there that abuse their authority? No fucking doubt about it, but in this case we have VIDEO DOCUMENTATION of a person refusing to comply with an officer's request, despite being warned REPEATEDLY of the possible consequences. Perhaps they should have let her just leave.

[seabeyond]

44. we were promised as a society when tasers came out

they would be used on the worst of the worse. she is NOT the worst of the worse. she is really low on that scale.

using taser has escalated to easily being pulled out and used. if we continually say, there was a good reason, she was twenty over speed limit. there was reason, she didnt do as told, we, we the citizens are continually lowering the bar of the use of this taser. you may not see it as a threat. i do. so

i will continue to yell about how our police are considering us as animals, and are treating us like animals, that if......we start acting like animals, they will only have themselves to blame

[frylock]

52. i agree in part..

normally, she would have been forcibly removed from the car, thrown to the ground and handcuffed while one officer had knee firmly placed into the back of her neck, grinding her face into the pavement. If that had happened, I can assure you, the same people who are upset over how it was handled would be equally upset. Perhaps the officers should have asked "pretty please, with sugar on top." Many people on this board just really want to believe that ALL officers are facist pigs.

Whenever I am pulled over (which is a rarity), regardless of how my emotions are running at the time, I make an effort to ensure the officer's job is as easy as possible; hands visible on the wheel as they approach, yes/no maam/sir. My behavior has had violations reduced in the field (a speeding ticket was written as following too closely on one occassion). This woman clearly had no intention of complying with the officer, regardless of the fact that she was in clear violation of two laws.

[seabeyond]

56. i speed all the time, and i have gotten out of more tickets than

i can count. that isnt the point. not everyone is you and i. yes i would have a problem if they grind her face in the pavement. i really would have issue with that, you are right

is that a problem

if you dont think a lot of this anger the citizens are giving to the police doesnt have something to do with the police themselves, then the problem will never be addressed. we will just continue to blindly support as more and more is allowed.

i read the article of the halliburton protest. had heard about it immediately afterwards too. those police purposely created chaos. that is not their job. it is our job to demand more of our police.

i have watched cops, the show and makes me sick. i watch how they treat people and have no qualms how they treat people. so much so, they put it on camera to entertain us. people are accepting, allowing, too much with the attitude, if i follow the law, if i become submissive enough, that wont be me. one of these days, it will reach the level of it being me anyway. i just cannot become that submissive. you may be safe.

we were told the taser would not be used for this. the taser was used for this. they are wrong

[frylock]

60. driving with a suspended license is an arrestable offense..

she was resisting arrest. This has nothing to do with being "submissive." I've been removed from a vehicle by an officer before for no good reason. I would have loved to tell that pig to fuck off, but my better judgment ruled against that. It was humiliating and unnecessary, but I got over it. I'm the furthest thing from a sheep that you will ever meet, but there is a time and place to take a stand, and this was neither.

Your example of the Halliburton protest is apples and oranges. I agree completely that police are capable, and oftentimes do instigate unrest for the sole purpose busting a few heads (WTO '99 is a classic example), and I abhor all acts of violence, particularly when it's perpetrated by those in positions of authority. I don't care for COPS either, nor do I care to see "perps" thrown to the pavement and kneeled upon. I suppose the officers could have cordoned off the area, called in the SWAT team, or used one of those robots to ensure that she was not concealing a weapon that could have been used to take the arresting officer's life.

Far be it for me to pass judgment, but this woman sounded like a self-centered, arrogant asshole who has decided that the rule of law does not apply to her. After all, she was rushing to have her hair and nails done before flying off to Jamaica for a modeling contest; clearly a life or death situation.

[seabeyond]

61. i wont condone this. it was too far. i have my line

this doesnt hit your line. i dont know how a cop gets someone out of car. i havent trained. i dont know if letting her throw a tissy and waiting five minutes and then talking with her would have done the trick. we wont know because he didnt allow for that option.

i know it is getting dangerously close with me on the line of being abused by the cops.

i have a 7 year old ticket out. three years it was lost. then was in warrant. i paid on it twice, with the amount on the bill. three times it came back i owed with a different total.

i owe 46. i have been told it is a warrant. twice i have gone to dmv to look it up, they cant find. last time i went to sheriffs office, they cant find. i carry a money order of 46. get a new one every year. and as i told the sheriff, if i do get pulled over and it does come up, and the cop doesnt want to allow my money order, they can take my kids away and arrest me.

the sheriff says, could happen if you get a cop having a bad day

you dont think i will get emotional if this happens. damn straight i will

are they allowed to taser me, because i am emotional as they take my kids away

it appears

i know other people and horror stories on simple dmv issue that is totally fuckin up their lives no fault of their own, cause the computer system is screwed up

if cops have all this power over us, it should at least, the very least, be a little easier to be legal. it shouldnt be so damn hard.
but anyone on this board can dismiss my woes and tell me, you broke the law

i am for punishment fitting the crime. there is no longer a balanced scale in handing out the punishment, in my view.

[theHandpuppet]

58. Yep, and I hope to hell...

... that the cops would pull over more of the idiots who fly down our own residential street, where many kids live and play, at 50 MPH plus. Little wonder this woman is driving with a suspended license. This is not to say she deserved tasering, but she should have to forfeit her car for speeding while driving with a suspended license.

[seabeyond]

59. wow take away her car

wow. that will certainly give cops motive to go after everyone all the time. get a car, walk home.

do we know anything about her suspended license. i dont know the story. know how easy it is to get a suspended license. before i judge and rule on her i would have to have some facts. maybe, she is poor. you know it is much harder for the working poor to stay legal in this culture. something us progressives are well aware of, and compassionate and somewhat protective toward.

fry her ass

on edit: they already did, fry her ass.

[yurbud]

3. I heard that too. she sounded black which probably affected cop decision

Can you imagine a cop tasering a white woman in her PJs?

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. Have yuo ever been stoped in a neighborhood for being

at the wrong place at the wrong time? I have, and I am white.

Yes there is an element of racism, but the cop HAD probable cause... when stoped by a cop, make sure your hands are vissible at all times adn comply with orders.

[yurbud]

34. If you listen to the tape, the whole incident transpires very fast.

[lenidog]

11. And I knew a lot of people who thought before they saw the video

that the lead singer of the 80s band "Simply Red" was a black woman when he was a white male. Lets just stick to the facts and not make them up as we go along.

[yurbud]

32. was I wrong?

[Warpy]

5. that's why I'm pushing for an internal investigation when ANY

weapon is discharged.

Cops are just getting too cavalier. Instead of stepping one step backwards and listening to this woman and then calming her down, that lazy fucker just zapped her.

An automatic internal investigation coupled with a pile of paperwork would put an end to innappropriate overuse of these things.

It is never fun to deal with an hysterical person who is incapable of listening. The best policy is to take one step back, thus giving them a visual cue that you're not attacking. Then you can generally find out what the problem really is and deal with it.

We don't use tasers in hospitals but we have to deal with hysterics from patients and visitors. This is what we do.

[Ariana Celeste]

45. I totally agree.

If a person is already freaked out and scared, as she obviously was, you don't threaten and threaten. That makes it worse. While she shouldn't have been going over the speed limit, and while she shouldn't have been driving on a suspended license, that is no excuse to break out the taser.
Maybe some officers need to learn a lesson or two from people that deal with hysterical folks on a regular basis (although I see most of it as common sense, myself).
Anyways, loved your reply. :hi:

[sir_captain]

6. I didn't see any kid

and I watched the whole video--I think this story is being embellished. In the video, there is a woman, who I don't believe was pregnant, who was going almost double the speed limit and who physically resisted the arresting officer. And I believe you sure as hell would get out of the car if the officer warned you six times to get out or he would zap you.

[nadinbrzezinski]

12. Ah the rest of the story

she did not comply when she was ordered out SIX times?

Not that she deserved it, but folks when yuo are stopped for a traffic stop, listen to the officer and don't try to make a scene.. it will only lead to them giving you the max fine they can...

[sir_captain]

16. Yeah

she was speeding, she was extremely uncooperative, and she was driving with a suspended license. Instead of getting out of the car, she started making a phone call.

[seabeyond]

27. dont make an expression, hold very still, understand our

cops are very tense, and they have the power over you. dont make a sudden move, no lifting of a brow, no eye contact, act like a tree adn do not show fear, cause they can smell fear. in a moments notice they can pull out ...... the taser.

well then... as long as there is reason

[cornermouse]

13. Actually, given what's been going on lately

(not talking specifically about the taser part) I doubt that I would stop my car until I got to the nearest convenience store or fast food restaurant parking lot.

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. Under cali law yuo are allowed to continue for a reasonable

distance to a well lighted location, this is not rabiting. Now if you get on the acceleartor expect this to be considered a pursuit

[cornermouse]

29. I'm not talking about hitting the accelerator.

I'm talking about finding someplace that is lit and populated to stop.

[TX-RAT]

20. Then add fleeing to allude to your charges.

Thats a felony in some states

[cornermouse]

26. Let's see. Police lights on a car which may or may not be a real

policeperson or fleeing at regular highway speed to the nearest lit, inhabited parking lot with witnesses... Hmmm... Let me think about this no-brainer for a minute.

[TX-RAT]

41. You'd rather turn it into a felony stop?

Thats your choice i guess.

[cornermouse]

50. You're right.

Kidnapped and murdered by an imposter would be a much better choice.

[elehhhhna]

19. Yep. I saw it too. Same thoughts.

[Sandpiper]

28. When did pregnancy become a matter of belief?

Either she was or she wasn't.

A proposition which is easily proved or disproved.

[sir_captain]

31. Quite true

I'm just saying that none of the newspaper articles on the subject have mentioned this. And the OP also claimed she was taking her kid to school--you will note in teh video that there is no child--consequently, my faith in the OP's information is not very high.

[Walt Starr]

8. She resitsted arrest

She is responsible for what happened to her, not the cop. cop followed the letter of procedure.

And there's another thread with the video.

[sir_captain]

9. Several, in fact

[lenidog]

22. Do have a link to them?

[sir_captain]

24. Sure

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3795253

[lenidog]

43. Thanks it makes everything a lot more clearer

I just saw it made my decision for me.

[jaxx]

10. They got a new toy (taser gun) and are using it like a night stick.

And unfortunately for every good cop, there are two son of a bitches with a badge who can't wait to wield a little power and show how bad they are. I wonder why they allow those guns to be used on pregnant women? Oh yeah, they don't hurt anything, do they?

[UdoKier]

21. I don't remember her being pregnant.

I do remember her driving on a suspended license and not complying with the police.


The police were way too eager to taser, but this woman acted like a jerk, too.

[sir_captain]

25. I think

some people are embellishing the story to fit their agenda.

[mike_c]

30. what no one seems to note here is that this is police violence...

...used to punish a detainee for not complying with an order, NOT force designed to produce compliance. If someone is threatening a cop or someone else (including themselves), a taser forces compliance with the order that they desist because it takes away their ability to continue. In this instance, the order was to get out of the car, and a taser jolt would NOT have enabled compliance, so its only justification was as "punishment" for not following orders. That's ineffective management of the situation and inappropriate use of force at best, IMO. This cop should have worked with her refusal to get out of the car, especially since it is apparent that she was fearful and stressed-- escalating the situation unnecessarily was utterly counter-productive and DESTINED to produce poor results.

[sir_captain]

33. What are you talking about?

She certainly exited the car upon being tased.

[mike_c]

38. how did she exit the car?

Maybe I'm missing something here-- was she pulled out by the cop afterwards? Did she exit herself some minutes later after she regained muscle control? Did she fall out through an open door?

[sir_captain]

40. It appeared that she fell out

The cop asked her to step out of the car. She refused. He opened the door and took her by the wrist to pull her out. She physically resisted (and he later said she took a swing at him, though you can't see that) and then he warned her six times to step out or he would tase her. She continued to talk on the phone and ignored him. He tased her and she fell out and was lying on the ground. So it seemed pretty effective at getting her out of the car to me.

[cornermouse]

37. See. It didn't register at all.

Looking at some of these posts, I knew it wouldn't.

[cornermouse]

49. Okay.

This is what I found for a search.

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

Pregnant woman 'Tasered' by police is convicted

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...

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.

[Sparkle]

35. I saw the tape, she didn't look like she was in her pajamas to me.

She also didn't look pregnant. The cop was imo polite to her but I don't know why he had to taser her.

[UdoKier]

39. Where is it that she was pregnant?

I've yet to see that in any news report...

[tx_dem41]

42. Drive-by post, apparently....

With a lot of questionable "facts" to boot. Nothing to wonder about there. :eyes:

[doodadem]

54. You doubt me....I'm crushed....

However, when I originally posted this it was just a reaction to hearing the audio tape.
What I do admit, is confusing this story, with another report of a pregnant woman getting tasered because she was also rushing her kid to school.
Here is that one:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/223578_taser10.html

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.

[tx_dem41]

55. You have to admit....you gave reasons to doubt.

Thanks for the followup.

[Pockets]

47. IMO, at least 30 minutes should have passed...

...before he considered using a potentially fatal weapon on her. A man his size having to use a weapon on a female should feel ashamed of himself.

He should have had backup arrive, perhaps a medical expert in case she were in mental disarray.

[pocket]

51. nice username :) n/t

.

[Pockets]

53. Are you serious?

Pocket, to be honest, I don't like my username. Do you know by any chance if the DU admin can change it for me?

[MojoXN]

57. Pokets, contact Skinner...

[bpilgrim]

62. OMG!!! - that is so SICK!!! ------ > look at these OUT OF CONTROL FASCIST

yes some of them are EXACTLY what they look like JACKBOOTED THUGS!

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peace