Attorneys for a pregnant
woman who was shocked by a stun gun during a dispute with police in the parking
lot of a Far South Side Walgreens last week are expected to file a lawsuit in
federal court later today.
The lawsuit will be filed on behalf of Tiffany Rent, according to a news
release from Saulter Tarver LLP. The still-unseen suit will name Chicago police
as the plaintiffs following the June 5 incident, first reported by the
Tribune/WGN-TV.
Rent, 30, who is eight months pregnant, claimed a Chicago police officer
shocked her after she tore up a parking ticket in the parking lot of a
Walgreens in the 10300 block of South Michigan
Avenue in the Roseland
neighborhood.
But police say the officer warned 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 into gear, according to a police report.
Just after the incident, when asked about the use of stun guns on a pregnant
woman, Chicago Police Superintendent Garry
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."
But Rent insisted that the officer who shocked her was close enough to see
that she was pregnant. She said she's worried about her unborn son, especially
because she lost two babies in the past. Rent is expected to join her attorneys
at an afternoon news conference in their Loop office later today.
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