What I don't quite get is why they needed to "get Brooks out of her car" in the first place for a simple traffic stop. Yes, she could probably have been more reasonable herself, but wrestling a pregnant woman out of her car while utilizing a Taser over a simple speeding ticket seems awfully extreme. And what kind of wuss cops need 2 men and a Taser to remove a pregnant woman from a car?

Don't get me wrong I respect cops and appreciate they job they do, but I think some make you get out of your car just because they enjoy the little power trip.

Personal story (pre-Taser, thank God):

Summer, 1989... I was driving about 60 in a 65 zone when I was pulled over for a missing front license plate, which must have very recently fallen off. The cop came over to my window, looked around the car, saw a very small pocket knife on my keychain. He proceeded to ask me, without telling me why I was stopped, if I had any other weapons in the car. I said "no, but I don't personally consider they keychain knife to be a weapon." He told me to get out of the car, walked me around to the front of my car, then made me stand there while he went back and presumably called for backup (2 more cars showed up within 5 minutes).

Long story short, he comes back to me and tells me that he's issuing a warning for a missing plate, and that I could go. That's it. Nobody can ever convince me that that whole scene was anything other than cop on a power trip.

Hell, these days he probably would have Tased me simply for disagreeing with his declaration that my 1" long keychain knife was a "weapon".

As their logic goes, she refused to sign the ticket and was therefore under arrest and to be taken into custody.

Usually signing a ticket is not an admission of guilt, just an acknowledgement that you are being released on your own bond and will either pay the ticket by mail or appear in court to fight it. By refusing, you are saying that you DO NOT agree to be released on your own bond. The next logical step is for the officer to say "Okay. Then we have to take you to jail."

IMHO, she should have just taken the ticket and fought it later. Arguing with the cop never gets you anywhere.

Of course tasing a woman who is 8 months pregnant is rather extreme. Personally, I probably would have waited her out. Made her sit there until she agreed to either sign the ticket or get out of her car and be taken into custody.

Hell, pregnant women have to pee roughly every 38 seconds. There is no reason they couldn't have waited her out. Also, I love how everyone claims that police are "trained in how to use TASERs safely". I know of absolutely no training outside Moscow that says "apply TASERs to the thighs and neck."

I would think that common sense would have prevailed on her part. You can't really missinterpet "You are under arrest, Get out of the Car". Just because she felt she didn't deserve the ticket is no excuse. She could have complied when they tried to remove her from the car instead of hanging on to the steering wheel. I would like to see the reaction of the public when police try to "wait out" every person that brakes the law.

Though I think using a TASER on a pregnant woman is extreme, I also have to note that she was being a belligerent jackass about it; all she had to do was sign the ticket and then fight it later.

This looks a lot like a two-wrongs don't make a right scenario. I personally wouldn't have tased her, probably pulled my car in front of her to keep her from leaving, but not taze her. I have heard from officers in my state that a signature is not required, especially so if there's video, since you can prove who was driving. So they may not have needed her signature. But she was a dumbass about it and got into a stupid situation.

And as Billy said, an officer waiting out every law breaker would really slow the system down.

Oh, and on a similar note, the Supreme Court has ruled you can arrest anyone, even for the stupidest of things, even if the cop needs sensitivity training.

http://writ.news.findlaw.com/aronson/20001215.html

I agreed with the S.C.'s reasoning in that case, but not their rulng. Stating you can't arrest offenders for petty crimes would give no teeth to attack shoplifters, careless drivers, or tresspassers. Although the text of their ruling is an hillarious attack against the arresting officer, it does uphold good policies, while opening the doors to new bad policies of arresting people for not wearing safety equipment.

i think it was wrong to tasern her beacuse she was pregnant they did not know it anything was wrong with her or the baby so they should not have taking a risk. i think they should have sent it in the mail if it was that big of a deal

Sign the ticket then APPEAL the ticket in court. That is what the system is for. She HAD to be difficult instead of "telling it to the Judge". Hope they got her in the ass too.

I personally love the complete idiocy and lack of common sense so obviously rampant in this country, probably world, at this particular time in history. The pregnant suspect is an absolute twit for not complying with the officers' wishes and the officer didn't exactly use the most sublime judgement by deciding to transmit small lightning bolts through the her senseless, fertile frame. All I know is it makes for cracking good entertainment for the rest of us. Does anyone know where I can find this video online? I want to watch again and again with a big bowl of popcorn on my lap. Speaking of which, does anyone know if you can pop Jiffypop with a taser? If it's possible, I'm definitely getting myself one. Cheers.

ok for the dumb people of the world when you are pulled over for a traffic citation, you are under arrest. when yiu sign the ticket you are making a promise to go to court "ie being released on your own" that is why if you dont sign you go to jail on a instanter charge