Chicago police say that 30-year-old Tiffany Rent was shot with a stun gun after she swore at an officer during a heated parking dispute and threatened to take off in her SUV when he said he was going to arrest her. Rent, who is eight months pregnant, said the officer knew she was expecting and accused him of overreacting. She was released after treatment at two separate hospitals and has been charged with a misdemeanor offense.
The Independent Police Review Authority is investigating the incident, the Chicago Tribune reports:
A police officer wrote a parking ticket, but Rent tore it up and threw it at him, according to a police report. The officer got out of his car to write her a ticket for littering and asked her for identification, the report said.
"I ain't giving you (expletive)," the report quoted Rent as saying.
As Rent got back into her SUV, the officer warned that he would use his stun gun if she drove away. When Rent "put her right hand on the gear shifter in an attempt to put the car in gear and leave the scene," the officer fired the weapon, the police report said.
Hobbs, the father of Rent's unborn son, was arrested when he tried to intervene, police said. He said he suffered a dislocated elbow during the arrest …
Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy declined to discuss details of the incident but said police are generally authorized to use a Taser to prevent an escape or overcome an assault.
Read more at the Chicago Tribune.