Court: Seattle police OK to stun pregnant woman

[cuppy199]

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. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...yndication=rss

[kbl8201]

thats ridiculous im sorry......she refused to sign a speeding ticket, she has the right to fight it in court.

first they stun 7 year old girls in school for throwing temper tantrums, now this. some cops are just as out of control as the criminals.

[kbl8201]

it also never came into the panels mind to think whether the arrest itself was justified

[Annie]

This is outrageous! That woman was posing no threat to them. Tasers should be reserved for emergency situations to stop dangerous criminals. Sounds like some police officers have let power go to their heads. What if it had harmed her baby? I don't blame her for fighting this, and I hope she wins. This was totally uncalled for.

[kbl8201]

since when are 3 cops needed for a speeding ticket anyways

[bugaboo]

We don't really know the full story. Just to try the other side here, we don't know what else she was doing when she was refusing to sign the ticket. Was she yelling, waving her arms around, trying to drive off? The officers obviously felt a need to remove the keys from the ignition. Something else was going on. It's easy for the news to just say "she refused to sign the ticket".

Believe it or not, most officers don't go looking for trouble. They would rather just give the ticket and be on their way. And having three officers at a car stop isn't so uncommon. The first officer has the car pulled over, and maybe a 2nd pulled up behind because there was a traffic congestion issue happening. Sometimes people request a supervisor, so the Sergeant drives up. Or, the officer called for backup when she started to get out of control, and 2 units showed up because they were close by.

People are so quick to blame the cops. Unless you see what they put up with every day, you never really know what is going on.

With this being said, they could have been totally out of line. I'm just trying to offer up another side.

[kbl8201]

i've seen video of a cop getting verbally harrased by someone he was giving a ticket, screamed at, cursed at, the guy even took the cops ticket and threw it back at him.

and the cop let him go