‘Her body is just a noodle’: Flint police under fire after video shows officers tasering handcuffed woman
Flint police say suspect was resisting arrest after allegedly attacking person at bar
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A Michigan police department has defended its officers against claims they were too aggressive in tasering a woman during an arrest.
The Flint Police Department says that the officers used the taser during the incident last month when the woman resisted arrest as they tried to get her into a patrol car.
FPD officers were called to the scene after the woman reportedly assaulted someone at a bar in the city.
The suspect, who police have not named, is accused of kicking an officer in the face and has been charged with assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.
Onlooker Amanda LaMielle captured the incident on video and posted it to social media.
She told The Daily Beast that the woman screamed as she was tased at close range by the FPD officers while sitting on the floor with her arms handcuffed behind her back.
“When you see her feet go up … her body is just a noodle, and so her feet fall back down. She falls down to the ground,” she said of the officers’ first attempt to get the suspect into the car.
“They just move in closely and start tasing her, hoping that nobody’s going to notice. But obviously, I did.”
She told the outlet that both officers involved in the incident refused to identify themselves publicly. she also claims that they tasered her twice, although that is unclear from the video posted.
The department says that it has reviewed the video and determined that the officers did nothing wrong during the arrest.
“After being told you’re placed under arrest, it’s not a suggestion, or an invitation to cooperate,” Det. Sgt. Tyrone Booth with the Flint Police Department told WNEM.
“An obligation at that point is to submit to that arrest and doing that by turning around and placing your hands behind your back and accepting the fact that handcuffs will be put on you.”
When asked why the officers had refused to identify themselves, he added: “They were quite busy dealing with an arrest.”