A black frontline worker said she intends to sue a New York State Police Department after using “excessive force” during what she describes as unlawful arrest.
Shana Shaw, who was driving at the time of the incident, was stopped in a Buffalo Wild Wings parking lot by Deputy Sheriff Brian Woltman Jr. of Ulster County for not signaling a turn.
During the stop, Woltman accused Shaw of driving with a driver’s license, which Shaw said she recently clarified and had papers at home to prove it. Less than a minute into the argument, Woltman asked Shaw to get out of the car, and when she asked why, he replied because I’m arresting you. Shaw soon got back in her car and told Woltman to call her lawyer.
The body cam footage then shows Woltman trying to grab Shaw’s arm to pull her out of the car. Shaw begins asking Woltman to stop before the officer uses a taser on her. A second officer finally shows up and helps Woltman.
Shaw was charged with driving with a driver’s license, defying the arrest and possession of marijuana, and was released on an entry ticket, according to Hudson Valley One. Shaw said the incident kept her from work for several days as she suffered from nerve damage to her wrists, a concussion and bruises.
“I feel fully taken advantage of,” said Shaw Hudson Valley One. “I don’t think it took two male officers to raise a girl who weighs 130 pounds in her scrubs from work, and I’m an essential worker.”
Woltman was previously charged with wrongful imprisonment and excessive violence against another woman who is also suing Woltman and Ulster County. Shaw plans to join this suit.
Ulster County Sheriff Juan Figueroa posted body camera footage of the incident along with a statement on Facebook.
The incident follows a summer of protests and actions against the police. Police budgets across the country were cut following the protests against Black Lives Matter and the deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd.
“I found it advisable to post the body camera footage of the December 28, 2020 event in a parking lot in the city of Ulster as the event has already attracted community attention,” Figueroa wrote on the department’s Facebook page . “Law enforcement encounters can be unpredictable, and while that doesn’t mean in one way or another that someone is to blame, it will at least shed light on the event as it happened in real time.”
Comments are closed.