A new video has surfaced showing a Missouri woman getting pulled out of a vehicle and being stunned by white police officers with a Taser.
She and her legal team plan to file a federal excessive force lawsuit against Cape Girardeau City, Missouri, its officers, and the police chief.
Cape Girardeau, Missouri, native LaToya Parker has secured the Black Lawyers for Justice and attorneys Malik Shabazz and Reginald Greene to represent her after she alleged police violated her First Amendment rights when they “unlawfully and viciously attacked” her without cause.
The attorneys are asking that the police chief denounce the officer’s actions of excessive force.
In a video released to Atlanta Black Star, Parker shared her account of the July 23 incident at a local gas station that left her brutalized and scarred by members of the Cape Girardeau Police Department.
Parker said she arrived at the gas station on the 1100 block of North Sprigg Street unaware of any disturbance.
The Semissourian reported police were responding to a fight between Keliah Miles and Maishael Miles, attempting to disperse the crowd, when the two pulled up to the scene.
According to Parker’s account, the officers were “mishandling” a young man, and she decided to exercise her right to record.
Officers told her to “get back,” and despite trying to comply and stepping back as instructed, officers still assaulted her.
At this time, she says her memory became hazy as she was forcibly dragged out of her Jeep by her hair, arms, and neck by the police.
“I remember first just being tased in my chest which I have a really big burn and bruise on my chest from and after that, I just remember just my body being in shock and not being able to move my limbs,’ Parker recalled, adding, she was “tased multiple times in [her] butt and just down in personal areas.”
Parker says the officers slammed her and kneed her in the back even as she was incapacitated on the ground.
Surveillance video captures the incident and shows officers standing around her on the ground and her not being a threat to them.
Eventually, the police placed her in the back of a van, where she pleaded for medical attention. At first, her requests were ignored, and she was taken to the police station.
However, after her release, she was about to get the medical assistance she needed following the ordeal.
Parker posted about the incident on her Facebook page.
“Finally out the hospital can’t use my arm tased over 7 times by multiple officers foot in back dragged hair pulled ect by the Police!!” she wrote in a post.
After her release from the police station, the Cape Girardeau Police Department released her mugshot to the public. In it, she is seen wearing a neck brace.
The department also said she was stunned because “an officer attempted to detain Parker for failing to disperse, and Parker began pulling away from the officer.”
“Parker was then tased by another officer and assisted to the ground,” the statement continued. “While on the ground, Parker refused to place her hands behind her back and was drive-stunned in order to gain control of Parker’s hands.”
The act of “drive-stunning” is when officers place a Taser directly on a person’s skin rather than a device that is shot at the subject.
The video does not clearly show how often she was stunned during her arrest.
The lawyers say they are certain a federal civil rights lawsuit will be filed against the city, the officers, and the police chief.
