Woman says she had a miscarriage after police used stun gun on her

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A woman is suing the city of Chicago, after she says a white police officer with a record of misconduct unfairly used a stun gun on her, causing her to have a miscarriage.

On July 31, Elaina Turner and her fiancé, Ulysses Green, filed a civil rights lawsuit against the city and Officers Patrick Kelly, Jeffrey Weber and James Kubick due to an altercation with police outside of the couple’s house two years ago.

In the suit, the couple claims that Turner was wrongly arrested, after a number of officers came to Turner and Green’s home on the afternoon of Aug. 2, 2013, to tow Green’s van. When the couple began arguing with the officers about why the car was being taken, Turner began filming the incident on her phone as proof of wrongdoing.

When she approached the car to retrieve her children’s carseats, she says one of the officers slapped the phone out of her hands. As she bent down to pick it up, he grabbed her wrist.

“I pulled my hands back with my hands facing him, both of my hands to him, like, ‘Officer, please don’t touch me, I’m not touching you, and I’m not doing anything, and I’m not going to approach the vehicle,’” Turner said. “And then I hear him say, ‘tase her.’”

Turner, who was several weeks pregnant at the time, says officer Kelly used his stun gun on her three times, hitting her stomach, leg and arm.

“I’m screaming in excruciating pain, and I’m screaming, like, you know, what is going on? Like what am I being tased for, and I’m not even doing anything,” Turner continued. “My kids on the porch, they’re screaming, everybody outside, they’re looking like, what are you tasing her for, like, that’s a pregnant lady.’”

Less than a week later, she claims she went to the hospital for heavy bleeding and was told she had lost her child. According to the lawsuit, the officers used excessive force that lead to her miscarriage, and the city routinely engages in the “concealment and suppression of the existence of police officer misconduct.” 

Turner said it was “chilling” to later learn about the numerous allegations against the officer who patrols her neighborhood.

“You’re a police officer [meant] to protect and serve people; you have a record longer than the people you are arresting,” Turner said. “I’m scared for my life because I feel like you can do anything to me and they’re going to believe you over me.”