Audra Harmon, Mother Tasered During Traffic Stop, Files Notice To Sue

Mother Tasered During Traffic Stop, Files Notice To Sue

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - A mother who was zapped with a stun gun in front of her children during a New York traffic stop has filed notice she'll sue the sheriff's department.

A police video captured by a dashboard camera shows Deputy Sean Andrews yanking Audra Harmon out of her minivan by the arm and knocking her down with two Taser shots in January.

Harmon was charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and speeding. Her lawyer says prosecutors dismissed the charges after watching the videotape.

Harmon claims Andrews was improperly trained. She says a Taser isn't supposed to be used against people who pose no threat.

In a notice of claim filed Thursday with the Onondaga (ahn-uhn-DAH'-guh) County clerk, Harmon accuses Andrews of wrongful conduct. She's seeking unspecified monetary damages.

Watch the video, the woman claims that she was never doing anything to deserve being tasered. she says it was only because she was asking to see the camera that proved that she was speeding which she claims she was not.

bottom line though, it looks to me like another example of the over zealous use of a taser and this time it looks like its going to come back to 'sting' the cop who did it.

[edit on 15-8-2009 by Animal]

[edit on 15-8-2009 by Animal]

If you get a speeding ticket you do not have the right to look at the officers equiptment. The side of the road is no place to argue your case, that is what the courtroom is for...in front of a judge.

That being said I hope she gets some big bucks! The officer was wrong to use a taser in this case.

Ok so you do not have a right to "ask to see it"?

But the cops have a right to taser you for asking?

What kind of screwed up totalitarianism are we in these days?

If she was only being verbally defiant then they had no case to use the tazer on her, and she is in the right. Obviously, a case of an officer in god-mode using the tazer as a cattle prod because the person was getting on their nerves. Improper use of equipment, and I hope she does sue the pants off the city, maybe they will crack down on officers who think that the tazer is an acceptable means simply to vent their loss of temper and shut the defendant up. I do agree RRConservative though, that the side of the road is not the place to plead your case, a courtroom is.

What did this gal do to warrant her being pulled over?. I heard she was driving while using a cell phone. There were kids in the car so charge her with child endangerment.