A deaf woman from Tacoma, Washington called 911 seeking help from police because she was being attacked inside her own home, but when she ran out to meet police officers, they fired a stun gun at her and took her into custody.
After being hit with the stun gun, Lashonn White fell to the sidewalk leaving her bruised, bloody and confused. No interpreter was present, and she was denied one during her three days of incareration.
“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 said.
Witnesses said White began bleeding heavily from her knuckles and the right side of her face swelled up immediately after she hit the pavement following the Taser jolt.
Charged with simple assault and obstruction of a public servant (law enforcement officer), White spent 60 hours in jail before a prosecutor requested that no charges be filed in her case.
Neighbors who witnessed the incident, and spoke to Tacoma police at the time, gave vastly different accounts from the officer's police reports.
More on this from KIRO in Tacoma.
