Innocent Deaf Woman Tased And Jailed

An innocent deaf woman in Tacoma, Washington says that police shocked her with a Taser and then put her in jail for almost three days with no interpreter after she called 911 to report a guest had attacked her in her own apartment.

Lashonn White told KIRO that she called 911 on April 6 with the help of a certified American Sign Language interpreter.

At the officers’ request, 911 told White to go outside the building, but when she ran towards Koskovich, he pulled his Taser and fired electric probes into her ribs and stomach.

“All I’m doing is waving my hands in the air, and the next thing I know, I’m on the ground and then handcuffed. It was almost like I blacked out. I was so dizzy and disoriented,” White explained. Photographs showed that White also suffered injuries to her cheek, chin, ribs, neck and arms.

White was arrested for simple assault and obstruction of a public servant, but after 60 hours in jail — without an interpreter — a city prosecutor asked that the charges not be filed.

Former Bellevue police chief Don Van Blaricom reviewed the police reports and determined they “were obviously written in concert, after the fact, to CYA [cover your ass].”

www.rawstory.com...

The USA has such a police force full of cowards. Is the only thing they know how to do is taser people? A taster can easily KILL people...it should be a used as a last resort. Not to mention this lady committed NO crime, is deaf, and had to suffer 3 days in jail.

How can these cops sleep at night knowing that they falsely imprison someone?

This is why we live in a litigus society......because unless its labeled with a warning, or the police act like they should.....lawsuits commence.

Honestly...they should loose the militant police force persona in this country and get back to something more community minded..I bet they would have less crime if they did so.

instead the police have the attitude that, Meh...I just work here....

NTA....where the hell is the ACLU in most of these cases of civil rights violations? Thats basically what this amounts to.

Explanation: S&F!

Tacoma Police Officers Ryan Koskovich and Michael Young arrived at the apartment complex about six minutes later. Police records obtained by KIRO showed that both officers had been repeatedly informed that White was deaf.

Name Them & Shame Them!

Personal Disclosure: Any place that sells coffee and donuts to L.E.O's should seriously think about refusing service to these two Keystone Cops [wiki] .

In this day and age, such ignorance is inexcusable.

It's bad enough that Deaf people struggle to find meaningful jobs or careers and often face barriers to other areas of life.

Now police harassment?

What's next?

Where does society draw the line?

Nothing surprises me anymore. Can this lady now sue the officers? I have been working on a site for the past year, which will include Corrupt Cops / Named and Shamed. With it a mailshot to people living withing their vicinity, informing them of the officers corruptness.

If this was one of us, you can be sure our mugshot would be available to a wide audience.

I hope this lady gets some justice. Though we all know the cops will just get a slap on the wrist.

Sickening behavior.

The Met force in London would love to hire these guys...

Attack first, Identify and Label after.

Seems to be the trend.

reply to post by AdamOver


I would imagine she could sue as she was wrongly imprisoned without a interpreter for days.

This is insane. Even after being told the woman was deaf, and KNOWING she was the apartment resident, they taze her and jail her?

WTF.

This is like another incident that I had posted to ATS; Woman Is Dragged From Hospital And Dies Shortly After In Jail For Not Being Able To Walk (VIDEO)

Now, if a cop is responding to a potential home invasion emergency call, and when they arrive on the scene a distraught woman runs from the residence toward the responding police, shouldn't their first priority be to get the woman to safety, on the assumption she is fleeing the alleged perp that necessitated her call in the first place?

Since when do they just shoot first, then arrest the 911 caller, then keep her in jail for 3 DAYS, knowing all the while she was DEAF and unable to comply with any audible commands?

Just insanity.

/rant