8 Month Pregnant Black Woman Tasered by Chicago Police after issuing Parking Ticket - No Basis for Arrest

From [HERE] and [HERE] Chicago's Independent Police Review Authority is looking into a complaint filed by a pregnant Black woman who was shocked with a police Taser on Tuesday night. Tiffany Rent, who is eight months pregnant, left the hospital Wednesday afternoon after being checked by doctors. She and her unborn child appear to be OK. But she said the baby hasn't been kicking as much as usual since the incident.

At about 8 p.m. Tuesday, Rent, her two young children and her boyfriend, Joseph Hobbs, pulled into the parking lot of a Walgreens on the 110 block of South Michigan Avenue. She parked in a handicapped parking spot and Hobbs went into the store. Rent said she got out of the car to re-seat her 3-year-old when a Chicago police officer began writing her a $200 ticket. "He gave me the ticket and I threw the ticket on the ground," Rent said in a telephone conversation with NBC Chicago. Rent said she got back into her car and closed the door. That's when, she said, the officer told her she was under arrest and used a Taser on her through the window. 

She told the Chicago Tribune that officers were aware of her condition because she is visibly pregnant: "I was standing at the squad car close enough for him to see that I was pregnant." Police claim that she was attempting to drive away. (Didn't the police want her to move her car out of the handicapped spot? It seems there was no legal basis to detain her and no probable cause to arrest for any offense! Last month a Dekalb County officer attacked a 9 month pregnant Black woman [MORE] -bw). 

The pregnant taser victim says that at the hospital, police seemed to find the incident amusing:

“They were laughing. They said … I know she’s pregnant. Then one of the other officers said I deserve it. Another officer said, ‘Go get Jesse Jackson,’” she said. “They were all laughing, like it was so funny.” [MORE] 

 According to police, the officer warned Tiffany Rent he would use the stun gun if she drove away after tearing up a parking ticket, throwing it at his face and yelling, "You ain't arresting (expletive)." The officer fired the stun gun as she put her SUV into gear, according to a police report.

At an unrelated news conference today, Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy said police would "take appropriate action" but he could release few details while the complaint is investigated by the Independent Police Review Authority.

“That case is being investigated right now by IPRA. I don’t have many details on it," McCarthy said. "What I can tell you is, we immediately, as soon as we got the complaint we started the investigation, and when we realized what was going on, we referred it over to IPRA and we’re going to take appropriate action.”

When asked what Chicago police policy is regarding a stun gun being used on a pregnant person, McCarthy said: "Well, first of all, you can’t always tell whether somebody is pregnant. So, you want to use it where you are overcoming assault or preventing escape. That’s what it boils down to."

"That policy has been in effect for quite some time," McCarthy said. "Whether or not the policy has been adhered to is going to be examined separately from the investigation into the use of force. So we’ll keep you posted on that, and we’ll see how it plays out.” 

Rent was taken to Roseland Community Hospital where a nursing supervisor said the baby appeared to be unharmed. Rent was treated and released, the supervisor said.

But Rent said she's worried about her unborn son, especially because she lost two babies in the past. She said the baby hasn't been kicking as much as usual since the incident.

"He started off healthy, and it's a possibility now that something may be wrong with him," she said, tears streaming down her face. "I've had to deal with losing two children already, you know?"

The incident occurred late Tuesday night when Rent was ticketed for parking in a handicapped spot at the Walgreens in the 10300 block of South Michigan Avenue, police said. Rent tore up the ticket and threw it at the officer and "attempted to take off," according to a source reading from the police report.

The officer got out of his squad car to write her another ticket, this one for littering, and asked for her identification, according to the police report.

The officer then told Rent that she would be arrested and she told him, "You ain't arresting (expletive)," the police report states.

As Rent got back into her SUV, the officer warned that he would use a stun gun on her if she drove away. Rent "put her right hand on the gear shifter in an attempt to put the car in gear and leave the scene," the police report states. The officer then "deployed his Taser."

Rent's boyfriend and father of the child, Joseph Hobbs, was also arrested when he tried to intervene, police said. He suffered a dislocated elbow during the arrest, officials said.

Rent admitted tearing up the ticket and walking back to her car. She said she got into the SUV and was rolling up the window when an officer fired the stun gun and hit her in the chest. "I didn't swing," she said. "I didn't hit anybody. I didn't do anything."

Rent said she didn't realize she'd been hit until she felt pain in her chest and saw thin wires hanging from her body. "I just remember shaking, and I remember hearing my kids scream," she said. 

As her 9-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter watched from the car, Rent said she opened the door and the officer took her to the ground and handcuffed her. She said several officers soon surrounded her and Hobbs, and she said some of them started making jokes, including telling the couple to call the Rev. Jesse Jackson.

Rent was surrounded by her family, who said they are outraged by the incident.

"How could you do that to a pregnant woman?" said Rent's sister, Shareeta Rent. "My niece and nephew are in the back seat of the car crying. They did that in front of her kids."

Hobbs’ sister, Shahidah Hobbs said "the whole family is appalled because (neither) Tiffany nor Joseph are those type of people that are combative. They’re very laid back, very sociable…It’s ridiculous.”

Shareeta Rent said she hopes video surveillance from Walgreens caught the arrest. “Check the videotapes. The proof is in the pudding,” she said.

“We’re going to file complaints and go from there and hope to God something is done about this. This is ridiculous.,” she added.

Rent was charged with misdemeanor counts of resisting arrest and simple assault, and was cited for parking in a handicapped spot, police said. Hobbs was charged with misdemeanor counts of resisting arrest and simple assault.