An appeals court is making headlines this morning after ruling in favor of three police officers who tasered a woman while she was seven months pregnant.
Malaika Brooks was tasered while carrying her now 6-year-old child after refusing to sign a traffic ticket.
When she was told that she would be arrested, Brooks refused to get out the car but told police that she was pregnant.
One officer held the woman’s arm behind her back in a “pain compliance technique” before the other two officers tased her in the neck, thigh and shoulder.
She was then dragged out the car and placed face down in the street.
Brooks has permanent scars from the incident.
The appeals court voted in favor of the officers in a 2-1 vote after a district court previously ruled that the woman’s rights were violated.
The vote prompted an almost immediate dissent from Judge Marsha Berzon who calls the ruling “off the wall” and wrote,
“I fail utterly to comprehend how my colleagues are able to conclude that it was objectively reasonable to use any force against Brooks, let alone three activations of a Taser.”
