Minivan Mom Tasered in Syracuse

A mom with two kids in her car in Syracuse was pulled over by a cop for allegedly talking on her cell phone. But she wasn’t. And because this is easy enough to prove with records, the cop was obviously pissed.

So he did the next logical thing, claiming he was going to give her a ticket for going 50 in a 45 mph zone. Because that is just the sort of thing that police do every day.

The mom at issue, Audra Harmon, said she wanted to see “the tape” from the cop’s radar gun and got out of the car. Bad move. Deputy Sean Andrews told her to get back in the car. She complied.

Then he demanded she get out again. I’m not making this up. Finally he yanked her out, and while she stood there in the most inoffensive manner possible, no more threatening to the officer’s safety than a butterfly, he tasered her. Twice.

Let’s roll the videotape, which you can see with the full story here (because I’m unable for some reason to embed the video here.)

I usually leave the stories of cops tasering people without good cause to Scott Greenfield. But I’m back from a tranquil beach vacation and this jumped out at me.

She will sue, of course. As she should. And with any luck at all Deputy Andrews will be flipping burgers someplace where an assault with a spatula will be less likely to do harm.

One last note: This comes to light in August, but it happened in January. Local officials say the matter is under review. That’s a long time to review a simple incident, if you ask me, and isn’t exactly a credit to the investigating authorities.

Links to this post:

flustered cop turns taser on syracuse mom
a stun gun making an electrical arc between it… you are not going to believe this video! i was alerted to it by a post on attorney eric turkewitz’s blog. eric practices personal injury law in new york city, but “minivan mom tasered in …
posted by Jim Reed @ August 24, 2009 11:45 AM
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August 17, 2009 · 2 Comments ·

2 Responses Leave a comment

  • Personal Injury Lawyer 2009.8.17 at 13:16 | Quote

    Wow that’s crazy. I can’t believe she got taserd for that. I mean he said get back in the car a few times and she eventually. He told her to get out just to tase her? That’s definitely power abuse right there.

    Reply – Quote
  • Kimz 2010.10.7 at 12:39 | Quote

    Does anyone know what the outcome of this is? I mean it’s one thing to get outraged when it happens, it’s another thing to follow through to the conclusion.

    I think I read somewhere that Andrew’s supervisor supported Andrew’s use of the taser. That suggests to me that not only was this particular deputy on a power trip, but police policies regarding taser use are flawed.

    Did The woman get any compensation? Was the deputy fired? Did the department revise it’s policy on taser use?

    Reply – Quote

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