Shikeia Randolph, a pregnant 29-year-old Black woman, was driving with her four children in the car when she was pulled over by an officer in Indiana over an issue with her license plate in 2023.
Lake County Sheriff’s Officer Peter Hamady then ordered her out of the car, claiming she had a warrant for her arrest over a truancy allegation which she said stemmed from having picked up her kids five minutes before school was out, and she already had attended a court hearing.
Fearing for her safety, Randolph told Hamady she wanted to wait for her mother to arrive at the scene to pick up her children before she stepped out of the vehicle, prompting Hamady to call for backup. At least three more officers arrived.
Randolph informed them she was 11 weeks pregnant, according to a federal lawsuit filed June 4 in federal court against the Lake County Sheriff’s Department.
The officers then pulled her out of her car and slammed her to the ground, placing their knees on her back and thighs, injuring her back, shoulders and abdomen.
Randolph ended up suffering a miscarriage three months later, which was a result of the physical abuse she endured during the traffic stop, the claim states.
All four officers were wearing body cameras, but the Lake County Sheriff’s Department has refused to release the videos to the public after more than two years.
Nevertheless, Hamady claimed in his report that Randolph “became argumentative” after being ordered out of her car, which could easily be confirmed with the release of body camera videos.
According to the lawsuit filed by Chicago attorney Matt Custardo:
Despite Plaintiff’s requests for relevant evidence since her arrest, Defendants have failed to produce any body camera footage of the incident, prejudicing Plaintiff’s ability to fully prosecute her claims and which would further illuminate the unlawful actions of the officers.
Defendants have obstructed discovery and concealed evidence — a violation of due process, indicative of deliberate indifference, and a symbol of official policy.
The lawsuit accuses Hamady of violating Randolph’s Fourth and 14th Amendment rights, malicious prosecution, spoliation of evidence, retaliation for exercising her First Amendment rights and also accuses the sheriff’s department of negligence for “failure to train, supervise and discipline” its problematic officers.
‘I’m Pregnant, Don’t Slam Me on the Ground‘
It was 4:30 a.m. on June 5, 2023, and Randolph was on her way to her mother’s home to prepare for her job as a certified nursing assistant and prepare the kids for daycare down the street, part of a routine the family maintained.
She had pulled into a gas station convenience store to purchase milk when Hamady spotted her and decided to pull her over, claiming her license plate was obscured by a license plate cover.
However, the lawsuit accuses Hamady of using that excuse as a pretextual stop in the hopes of finding something more serious, which is legalized racial profiling, because her license plate was in compliance with Indiana law.
Once she was pulled over, Hamady demanded her license and ran it through the system, which was when he claimed he discovered a warrant for her arrest over the truancy allegations, ordering her to step out of the car.
Randolph said she explained to Hamady that she had already attended a court hearing for that allegation, but that was when Hamady claimed she became argumentative.
Hamady called for backup while Randolph called her mother to come pick up her children. The arriving officers, J. Bostick, M. Steward, and J. Stasko, began yelling at her to get out of the car, making it difficult for her to communicate with her mother.
“I said, ‘I can’t hear you,'” Williams-Wright said in an interview with the Chicago Tribune.
“So she said she was rolling up the window a little bit so I could hear her. And that’s when the officers started getting aggressive with her, telling her to let the window down.”
The last words her mother heard her daughter say before the line was disconnected were, “I’m pregnant, don’t slam me on the ground.”
Hamady’s report claimed she was grabbing on the steering wheel, which is why she was charged with resisting arrest two months later, in August 2023—although it has not been explained why it took two months to charge her with a misdemeanor. The charge was dismissed more than a year later, in February, through a pretrial diversion agreement, local media reported.
“If the bodycam footage could prove that, why wouldn’t that come out?” Custardo said in an interview with The Times of Northwest Indiana.
“I think the fact that it hasn’t been, they have given no justification for why they can’t release it, that speaks volumes,” he added.
The lawsuit accuses Hamady and other officers of having a “history of misconduct and/or using excessive force,” which is part of the culture at the Lake County Sheriff’s Department. The officers who showed up as backup are not listed as defendants, but that can change in an amended complaint if evidence shows they participated in the abuse.
“Upon information and belief, multiple officers employed by the LCSD have previously been subject to disciplinary action for the use of excessive force,” the claim states.
“These instances suggest a broader pattern indicative of institutional deficiencies within LCSD, including inadequate training, insufficient supervision, and a failure to implement effective accountability measures.”
Randolph suffered a miscarriage 12 weeks later.
“We were excited about the pregnancy,” Randolph, now 31, told the Chicago Tribune, referencing her fiancé. “There was a lot of emotional trauma. It was overwhelming.”
