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Police Used Taser on Pregnant Woman and are Now Seeking Appeal
Friday, May 18, 2012 by Kim Shannon from Buzzworthy Bulletins
Malaika Brooks was in her third trimester of pregnancy when she was pulled over by Seattle police for speeding while driving her 11-year-old son to school. She refused to sign the speeding ticket, the police asked her to get out of her car, and when she refused that as well, they tased her – three times.
The police initially showed her the taser and asked Brooks if she knew what it was. She didn’t, but she did say, “I have to go to the bathroom, I am pregnant. I’m less than 60 days from having my baby.” After the first taser shock to her thigh, she cried out and honked the horn; after the third taser shock to her neck, Brooks “fell over, and the officers dragged her into the street, laying her face down and cuffing her hands behind her back.”
Brooks was charged with refusing to obey an officer and she filed a lawsuit claiming the officers used excessive force. The US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals judges ruled in favor of the officers, “stating the police were justified in making the arrest.”
However, that court ruling was apparently not enough for those officers. On May 24, those officers will look to the Supreme Court for further justification.
Why do they need further justification? They shocked a 7-months-pregnant woman with tasers three times, placed her on her belly, and handcuffed her; and probably all in front of her young son. Are they proud? They won! Why are they now going to the Supreme Court? Are they looking for haters? I can assure them; any woman who has felt the expansions of a third trimester is hating. Could they not think of any other way to handle this situation?
And it was a situation. What on earth was this woman thinking? All she needed to do was sign a speeding ticket, which is not an admission of guilt! Reports say she didn’t want to sign because she claims she was not speeding. You can appeal these things! Your son was in the back seat of your car, three policemen were threatening to taser your pregnant body … and this was the moment you chose to fight back?
I feel like both parties displayed a bit of stupidity. When I read news stories like this one, I hear an old song in my head. It’s by Bill Engvall (thanks Community!); it’s called “Here’s Your Sign” – perhaps you know it? Yeah… to those police officers who resorted to atrocious force against a pregnant woman and have decided that winning the original appeal wasn’t enough for them, here’s your sign. And to the pregnant woman in her third trimester, who wasn’t speeding (but had three police officers standing in front of her, stating she was going 32 mph in a 20 mph school zone, threatening to taser her body – while her son was in the backseat), and chose to disobey, here’s your sign.
There is always a better way.
What do you think? Do you agree?
Kim Shannon
Kimberly Shannon is a wife, a mother, an editor, a writer, a Pilates instructor, a dance teacher, a choreographer ... She is always working to find the perfect balance¹!
After Kimberly received her bachelor’s degree in Journalism, she worked on two master’s degree...Read More
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