These days, there isn't much the cops can't taze you for—exercising your First Amendment rights, cutting in line at McDonalds, even just not signing your speeding ticket. Apparently in Chicago, that list also includes ripping up a parking ticket in front of the issuing officer. RESPECT THEIR AUTHORITAH!
According to a report by CBS Chicago, 30-year-old Tiffany Rent—who is eight months pregnant—had pulled into a handicapped parking spot to comfort her young daughter.
"The police came behind her, and she said they blocked her in. She asked them, were they writing her a ticket, and they told her yes," Sharita Rent, the victim's sister said. "She tried to explain to them what happened, as far as her little [girl] getting out of the car, and her trying to calm her down and console her, and the guy gave her a ticket for $200. She ripped the ticket up, tore it in half, and threw it on the ground." And then shit got real. As she got back in her car and shut the door, the officer reportedly discharged his tazer through her window before wrestling her out of the vehicle.
And, to add insult to brutality, the police made fun of her while she was being treated, according to Rent. "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 recalls. "They were all laughing, like it was so funny."
The police have countered her account, insisting that she swore at the officers, threw the ticket in the officer's face and then tried to leave the scene (despite being parked in by the police cruiser). As for the why the fuck they would taze a pregnant woman, "First of all, you can't always tell if somebody's pregnant. You want to use it where you're overcoming an assault, or preventing escape," Police Supt. Garry McCarthy said. Rent and her boyfriend, who was also in the car, have both been charged with resisting arrest and simple assault. The matter is being investigated by Chicago's Independent Police Review Authority for charges of excessive force. [CBS Chicago via Consumerist - Image: The AP]