Innocent Deaf Woman Tased and Jailed for Days }Tacoma

Lashonn’s injured cheek 

An innocent deaf woman in Tacoma, Washington says that police shocked her with a Taser and then put her in jail for almost three days with no interpreter after she called 911 to report a guest had attacked her in her own apartment.

Lashonn White told KIRO that she called 911 on April 6 with the help of a certified American Sign Language interpreter.

"I said, 'Please hurry! There's a person here beating me up,' " White recalled.

Tacoma Police Officers Ryan Koskovich and Michael Young arrived at the apartment complex about six minutes later. Police records obtained by KIRO showed that both officers had been repeatedly informed that White was deaf.

At the officers' request, 911 told White to go outside the building, but when she ran towards Koskovich, he pulled his Taser and fired electric probes into her ribs and stomach.

"All I'm doing is waving my hands in the air, and the next thing I know, I'm on the ground and then handcuffed. It was almost like I blacked out. I was so dizzy and disoriented," White explained.

Photographs showed that White also suffered injuries to her cheek, chin, ribs, neck and arms.

"The next thing I know, they took me to jail," she said. "Told me to stand up, you're going to jail. I said, 'What? What have I done?' I couldn't figure it out. I had no idea what was going on."

Nearly identical reports submitted by both officers claimed that Koskovich had held up his right hand and ordered White to stop but she continued to run toward him.

Residents of the apartment building, however, disagreed with the officers' version of events.

"They had Tased her because he thought she was coming at him, but what she was doing was running to him," Margaret Sims recalled to KIRO. "But he said, 'stop' and he didn't put his hand up. He just said, 'stop' and she couldn't understand that."

White was arrested for simple assault and obstruction of a public servant, but after 60 hours in jail - without an interpreter - a city prosecutor asked that the charges not be filed.

Former Bellevue police chief Don Van Blaricom reviewed the police reports and determined they "were obviously written in concert, after the fact, to CYA [cover your ass]." Raw Story

HIGHLIGHTS

Washington state law requires that all hearing impaired people be provided an interpreter soon after the arrest and throughout any investigation. Raw Story

"If a hearing impaired person is arrested for an alleged violation of a criminal law, the arresting officer or the officer's supervisor shall, at the earliest possible time, procure and arrange payment for a qualified interpreter for any notification of rights, warning, interrogation, or taking of a statement," according to state code RCW 2.42.120 (5). Raw Story

After months of digging, investigative reporter Chris Halsne found significant discrepancies in the official police version of events leading up to Lashonn White's arrest.

White said despite her repeated requests to police for a certified ASL interpreter, one was never provided.

The story is complex and the officers at the scene clearly had a different point of view. KIRO 7 Investigators have tried to get their explanation for six weeks and while we've talked to Tacoma Police on the phone they would not respond to the allegations. We've also sent them emails and left several messages. kirotv.com

FACTS & FIGURES

A Google search for "police brutality videos" turns up 2,210,000 entries. Some entries are foreign and some are probably duplications, but the number is so large that a person could do nothing but watch police brutality videos for the rest of his life. A search on "You Tube" alone turned up 2,280 police brutality videos. PrisonPlanet has a selection of the most outrageous recent cases.

Police brutality has crossed the line from using excessive force against a resisting Rodney King to unprovoked gratuitous violence against persons offering no resistance, such as the elderly, women, students, and elected officials. Americans are not safe anywhere from police. Police attack Americans in university libraries, in public meetings, and in their own homes. lewrockwell.com

Cases in which police, prison guards and other law enforcement authorities have used excessive force or other tactics to violate victims' civil rights have increased 25% (281 vs. 224) from fiscal years 2001 to 2007 over the previous seven years. USA Today

Federal records show the vast majority of police brutality cases referred by investigators are not prosecuted. USA Today

The law makes it impossible for Americans to defend themselves from police brutality. Law and order conservatives have made it a felony with a long prison sentence to "assault a police officer." Assaulting a police officer means that if a police thug intends to beat your brains out with his nightstick and you disarm your assailant, you have "assaulted a police officer." If you are not shot on the spot by his backup, you will be convicted by a "law and order" jury and sent to prison. lewrockwell.com

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