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Three Seattle police officers were justified when they used a stun gun on a pregnant mother who refused to sign a traffic ticket, a federal appeals court ruled Friday in a case that prompted an incredulous dissent.
Malaika Brooks was driving her son to Seattle’s African American Academy in 2004 when she was stopped for doing 32 mph in a school zone. She insisted it was the car in front of her that was speeding, and refused to sign the ticket because she thought she’d be admitting guilt.
Rather than give her the ticket and let her go on her way, the officers decided to arrest her. One reached in, turned off her car and dropped the keys on the floor. Brooks stiffened her arms against the steering wheel and told the officers she was pregnant, but refused to get out, even after they threatened to stun her.
The officers – Sgt. Steven Daman, Officer Juan Ornelas and Officer Donald Jones – then stunned her three times, in the thigh, shoulder and neck, and hauled her out of the car, laying her face-down in the street.
As far as I know you never have to sign the ticket. It just goes against you in court. But I guess these a-holes demanded it and expected it. This is Seattle for you.
Found by Aric Mackey.
You clearly copied the article from someone. So where’s the reference link? Please give credit where it’s due.
http://www.theolympian.com/2010/03/26/1185860/court-seattle-police-ok-to-taser.html ima guess
Why are the police allowed to punish the citizens with torture before the citizens are sentenced by a court?
Which country is this again?
I guess the police don’t have time to “dialogue” their way through a sticky situation, and killing the pregnant woman isn’t currently politically acceptable, so Taser it is!!!
Signing for a Traffic Ticket is not admitting guilt. It’s just saying you received the damn ticket. This is what the cops told me anytime I got one. You know if you do what the Officer ask, you don’t get tasered.
#4 “You know if you do what the Officer ask, you don’t get tasered.”
I hear and I obey.
I hear and I obey.
I hear and I obey.
I hear and I obey.
Why don’t we just change the name of the country to
.
.
.
.
Russia, maybe?
Then why do you have to sign the damn ticket?
“You know if you do what the Officer ask, you don’t get tasered.”
one of the most stirring parts of the constitution I always thought.
Then why do you have to sign the damn ticket?
You promise to show up in the court if you dispute and don’t pay the ticket.
The thing about pregnant wimmens is they can turn on you in an instant! Also, it’s kind of fun to throw them to the ground, cuff them and taze them. They stiffen up like a board and sort of rock on their baby bumps like a balance board. Good fun.
“A panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 Friday that the officers were justified in using force because of the threat that Brooks could have picked up her car keys off the floor, started the car and driven away erratically.
The dissenting judge called the ruling “off-the-wall,” and said the police officers had no authority to arrest Brooks – let alone the authority to use a Taser on a nonthreatening woman who was seven months pregnant.
////// I’m almost always in the minority these days when it comes to “Cops + Common Sense”
quota and fear
if they let ANYBODY go, the public wont have FEAR
or maybe she was being an ASS
but seriously, who hasn’t went 30 mph in a ….SCHOOL ZONE? anyone know how many city blocks NYU own in Manhattan?
cops are to serve and protect
i think anyone should be able to be a “cop”, and just answer phone calls and help people who need help and use a “cop mandate of serving and protecting HUMANS” not dollar signs… like moving shit around and random bullshit like getting coffee outta a top shelf or ANYTHING that SERVES HUMANS. it would create jobs and help civilization reach the next level.
but humans only see money these days. so either deal with it and be a slave or stop thinking im insane
🙂 im high
As might be expected, the two judges who condoned the actions of these animals on the SPD:
Cynthia Holcomb Hall, Stanford Law
Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain, Harvard Law
are Reagan appointees, and the dissenting judge:
Marsha S, Berzon, UC. Berkley
is a Clinton appointee. That pretty much says it all. Except that the cowards who call themselves Democrats in the Senate who could wholesale impeach Bush and Reagan appointees on the Appeals courts are as much to blame.
Can anyone find out, how the pregnant lady is? I mean, is she OK?
You don’t have to sign the ticket. The problem is the the law enforcement career attracts people who essentially would have been criminals if they haven’t joined the force.
#4 Jetfire:
“You know if you do what the Officer ask, you don’t get tasered.”
Fuck you.
That’s about as intelligent a response as I can come up with for you, but it’s still smarter than your dumb ass.
EVEN IF you are *required* to sign the ticket, being tasered (especially while pregnant!) is not an appropriate response.
It’s pretty clear the use of Taser weapons here was inappropriate.
The Internal Association of Chiefs of Police came up with a guideline in 2007 for use of Taser weapons. See the link at:
http://www.cga.ct.gov/2007/rpt/2007-R-0068.htm
The guidelines clearly state these weapons should not be use on passive subjects, or pregnant women. It also states the weapon should not be aimed at sensitive areas including the subject’s neck.
I would guess such blatant violation of established guidelines would open up the Seattle police force and city to an expensive lawsuit. Since the writing of traffic tickets is primarily a revenue generation scheme for the police, failure to raise money at it should be avoided.
These Seattle police clowns don’t seem to understand their job–it’s not to “serve and protect” it’s to collect revenue.
Just shut up and do what cops say, you pinkos. You must obey all authority figures (unless it’s a President you don’t like).
“You know if you do what the Officer ask, you don’t get tasered.”
“pareo excolo vel adepto TAZERED” ?
Could replace “E pluribus unum”
Fuckin’ pigs.
You sign the ticket because it is not an “admission of guilt”, it is a “promise to appear”…
You have been arrested for a traffic violation, and are only released on your own recognizance by signing a sworn statement – witnessed by the arresting officer – that you agree to appear in court on the date specified.
If you don’t sign the ticket, you are still under arrest for the traffic violation – and you are going to jail.
In some states, the cops will take you to jail – only out-of-state drivers?? – if you can’t/won’t pay the fine on the spot! They even take credit cards…
The death of civility is a painful condition. Out of my high school classmates that went on to be law officers just one was not an obvious bully (a female).
Arbitrary power in the hands of uncivil brutes looks to be what we are in for, good and hard. There are some decent law officers. Decent ones are worth more than their weight in gold.
Our societies self centered attitudes goes a long way to allowing a greater amount of this behavior. If our respect for fellow humanity was a foremost thought, it seems to me there would be less tolerance for this criminal behavior.
re: If you don’t sign the ticket, you are still under arrest for the traffic violation – and you are going to jail.
Of course, as my father tol me, traffic cops have some “discretion” in a lot of the things they do.
They get to make “judgement calls”.
Most commonly: whether they give you a verbal warning, a written warning, or traffic citation [ticket].
This also applies to whether they arrest you for failure to sign a traffic citation, or tearing it up.
My father used to be amused when people would tear-up the tickets he wrote them, because he would just write them another… as many as were necessary – documenting how many had been torn-up on each new ticket. Judges -love- to read those comments when it comes to trial. 🙂
But, he worked with cops who would cuff the driver & put them in the back of the cruiser, call for a tow truck to pickup the car, and take the arrestee to jail… because the law – as written – allows that.
#4 “You know if you do what the Officer ask, you don’t get tasered.”
This is the same mindset that produces the following rationale: If you don’t have anything to hide, you don’t have anything to worry about.
Sheep.
In Nebraska (and likely many other jurisdictions), you are legally required to sign the ticket. It is not an admission of guilt, but a guarantee that you’ll appear in court. If you don’t sign, things get bad, as you’ve just went from committing a minor traffic violation to committing a misdemeanor that will now appear on your record…
(Not that I’m justifying these asshole cops’ actions–the situation didn’t require the use of a weapon that is equivalent to a gun on the “use of force continuum”. I’m encouraging people to check their local laws before claiming “As far as I know you never have to sign the ticket. It just goes against you in court.“)