Across the United States, a crime wave is threatening the very fabric of American life. Pregnant women are refusing to sign traffic tickets.
Authorities are unclear how to stop this. Should these women be shot on sight? Or will simple tasering be sufficient?
In Washington state, the police have decided to go with the kinder, gentler approach: tasering.
But one formerly pregnant woman has sued the police for this. So, next week, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide.
Malaika Brooks was driving her son to school. She was stopped for a moving violation. The policeman asked her to sign a traffic ticket. She refused, thinking this would be an admission of guilt.
In Washington state, it is a crime to refuse to sign a traffic ticket. So, the cop ordered her out of the car. She refused.
This woman was clearly dangerous.
The policeman consulted with two of his colleagues as to the proper penalty. They agreed on the taser.
First shot: her leg. Next, her arm. Finally, the grand finale: her neck.
She collapsed.
After she came to her senses, she sued the three officers.
The case went to the U.S. Court of Appeals. The cops won a split decision. “The majority believed that the officers used excessive force but could not be sued because the law was unclear at the time of the incident.”
Chief Judge Alex Kozinski said that Brooks had been “defiant” and “deaf to reason,” which caused the incident to occur, and that the officers deserved praise and commendations for their actions. Although the officers won the case, the court informed them that “some future use of Tasers would cross a constitutional line and amount to excessive force.” The officers appealed the case to the Supreme Court to “clear their names” and preserve their right to “a useful pain technique.”
A useful pain technique. Right. I get it.
My advice: if you get pulled over in Washington state for speeding, let alone running a red light, sign the ticket.
Continue reading here: https://www.theroot.com/cops-using-tasers-on-pregnant-women-ok-1790891500
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Published on May 18, 2012. The original is here.
Later in the year, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to listen to the appeal. It also refused to listen to another Taser case from Hawaii. The story is here.
In 2016, the Court refused to hear another case, this time from North Carolina. This time, a federal appeals court placed verbal limits on the use of Tasers.
A three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled in January 2016 that the officers used an excessive, unconstitutional level of force. But the panel said they couldn’t have known it because laws on Tasers were murky.The panel upheld the officers’ immunity but put departments “on notice” that unless someone poses “an immediate safety risk,” Tasers can’t be used. “Erratic behavior and mental illness do not necessarily create a safety risk,” the judges wrote. . . .
Across the five states covered by the ruling – North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia, Maryland and Virginia – police are scaling back use. At least eight major cities have adopted more restrictive Taser policies, Reuters found.
In Baltimore, police used Tasers 47 percent fewer times last year than in 2015, according to records reviewed by Reuters. Deployments fell 65 percent in Virginia Beach; 60 percent in Greensboro, North Carolina; 55 percent in Charleston, South Carolina; and 52 percent in Huntington, West Virginia. Norfolk, Virginia, saw deployments plunge 95 percent.
“Initially there was a belief that there was low risk to life,” said Mark Newbold, managing attorney of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department. “But as time went on, we had seen an increase between the use of the Taser and somebody dying. And so the risk analysis has changed.”
The story is here.
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