A pregnant woman was reportedly tasered by police in Illinois after she briefly parked illegally in a handicapped space.
Tiffany Rent, 30, says that she only intended to stop in the spot for a minute to console her young daughter, and was not actually parking in the space. But police prevented her from moving her vehicle out of the space, and then began to write a ticket for $200.
Rent, who is eight months pregnant, admits that she became angry and argued with police about the ticket. Her sister, Sharita Rent, explains what happened in the series events that led to her pregnant sister getting shocked with a stun gun :
“She pulled up in a handicapped space. The police came behind her, and she said they blocked her in. She asked them, were they writing her a ticket, and they told her yes.”
Rent continues:
“She tried to explain to them what happened, as far as her little getting out of the car, and her trying to calm her down and console her, and the guy gave her a ticket for $200. She ripped the ticket up, tore it in half, and threw it on the ground.”
While it’s never advisable to argue with or become agitated with police, police should also not be using tasers on anyone just because they’re being obnoxious- which, while not illegal, is also not posing any threat. Rent explains that she was frightened, and then that police mocked her at the station:
“I got scared, and closed the door. I didn’t hit him. I didn’t mean to harm him, or anything. He Tasered me through the window.”
The pregnant taser victim says that at the hospital, police seemed to find the incident amusing:
“They were laughing. They said … I know she’s pregnant. Then one of the other officers said I deserve it. Another officer said, ‘Go get Jesse Jackson,’” she said. “They were all laughing, like it was so funny.”
The jurisdiction’s Independent Police Review Authority is investigating the pregnant taser victim’s complaint of excessive force.