NY mom Tasered at traffic stop files notice to sue
SYRACUSE, N.Y. - SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) — A mother who was zapped with a police stun gun in front of her children during a traffic stop has filed notice that she'll sue the sheriff's department.
A police video captured by a dashboard camera shows Deputy Sean Andrews yanking Audra Harmon, 38, out of her minivan by the arm and knocking her down with two Taser shots in January.
Harmon was charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and driving 50 mph in a 45 mph zone. Her lawyer said prosecutors dismissed the charges after watching the videotape.
Harmon claims Andrews, who's been on the force four years, was improperly trained. She claims the Taser isn't supposed to be used against people who pose no threat.
In a notice of claim filed Thursday with the Onondaga County clerk, Harmon accuses Andrews of wrongful conduct. She's seeking unspecified monetary damages.
Harmon, a school bus driver for 11 years, was returning home from shopping and picking up her 15-year-old son from wrestling practice. The boy was in the front passenger seat, and his 5-year-old sister was in the back.
Harmon claims that Andrews initially accused her of talking on her cell phone while driving and that after she said she could prove him wrong he said she was speeding.
In the video, Andrews tells her the evidence is in a box in his patrol car and starts walking back toward it. Harmon follows and is told to get back in the van. She does, then he orders her back out. She refuses, and he grabs her by the arm and pulls.
In Andrews' report on the arrest, he said Harmon refused his request to get back in her van, then refused to get out when he said she was under arrest. Harmon refused to comply with his commands to put her hands behind her back to be cuffed, he wrote.
Andrews, 37, was taken off road patrol after the arrest and will remain in a new assignment until an internal-affairs investigation is finished, Sheriff Kevin Walsh said.
Walsh declined to comment further because the case is under litigation. Andrews also would not comment.
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