Video: Illinois Police Taser Pregnant Woman In Best Buy Parking Lot

By Chuck Sudo in News on Apr 5, 2013 5:00PM

Lucinda White (left) and Frederic Thomas. (Photos courtesy Sangamon County Sheriff's Office)

A woman who was tased by police last week in a Best Buy parking lot in Springfield, Ill., was revealed to be eight months pregnant. Lucinda White called police after getting into a fender-bender in the parking lot on March 30. Her boyfriend, Frederic Thomas, became angry after the other driver denied there was any damage to the vehicles and, after he was warned by police to calm down, allegedly began “swinging his arms and hands wildly” at the officer’s “head and body,” according to the police report. (View it here as a PDF.)

In the video below, White can be seen near Thomas and Officer R.T. Kuhn as they struggle between vehicles when another officer identified as “Higginson” proceeded to use a taser on White, force her to the ground and arrest her. Thomas was also tased, while Kuhn explained to other responding officers he was injured trying to subdue Thomas. Officer Higginson, in his report, wrote that he tased White in the thigh, forced her to the ground and handcuffed her, all while she, Thomas and bystanders yelled, “She’s pregnant.”

Response to the video on YouTube was expectedly and overwhelmingly negative. The Springfield Police Department defended their officers’ actions. Deputy Chief Cliff Buscher said White’s and Thomas’ actions warranted the force used to subdue them. According to the website SpringfieldLeaks.com, Thomas is an employee of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and has been disciplined by that agency before for punching a co-worker in the back in February 2011. DCFS has requested a copy of the police report from Springfield Police.

Both Thomas and White were charged with assaulting a police officer, White was released on her own recognizance while Thomas was released on $3,000 bond. The use of stun guns have come under scrutiny in recent years. Originally intended to subdue suspected criminals with minimal force, they've been the focus on an increasing number of serious injury and even death. Amnesty International has criticized the use of stun guns on pregnant women, the frail and the elderly, claiming it's sometimes impossible to tell if a woman is pregnant or if someone is suffering from health issues that can be exacerbated with the high-voltage charges delivered by stun guns and tasers.

Fabrice Czarnecki, an emergency physician and staff doctor for the Police Policy Studies Council, said in 2007 the risks of pregnant women being tased can't be dismissed.

"If you are hit by a Taser you are likely to fall. We know even minor trauma during pregnancy, like a fall, is dangerous and could be fatal to the fetus. Again, we don't know whether the risk is 1 percent or 5 percent. We don't know. But we know it's there."

Last year, Chicago resident Tiffany Rent filed a civil rights lawsuit after she was tased by Chicago police in a parking dispute while eight months pregnant.