The Associated Press
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — A woman is suing three corrections officers after she says she was shocked with a Taser while being physically restrained at a county jail.
But Antrim County Sheriff Terry Johnson said the officers acted appropriately.
According to a July 23 lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, Roxanne Roush-Dean claims that in December 2005 she was strapped into a restraint chair in an Antrim County jail cell and electrically shocked by corrections officer Kim Murray.
The lawsuit claims Dean did nothing to provoke the assault, which caused her to break her right wrist and left multiple bruises. The three-count lawsuit also alleges that corrections officers Bonnie Paige and Mark Kucharek failed to stop the incident.
“You cannot use any force against someone that is restrained and it shouldn’t happen in civilized society,” Dean’s attorney, Dean Elliott, told the Traverse City Record-Eagle for a Tuesday story.
He said the incident constituted excessive force and violated Dean’s constitutional rights.
Christopher Cooke, an attorney representing the officers, said an officer shocked Dean one time, but said it was in response to Dean’s verbal and physical attacks.
“The officers have a duty to protect the prisoners and themselves during custody of the prisoner,” Cooke said.
Dean, of Traverse City, had been arrested and jailed on a two-count fugitive misdemeanor warrant.