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Subscribe to RSSA pregnant woman was reportedly Tasered and arrested by Chicago police Tuesday evening after she refused to move her vehicle from a handicap parking spot, according to local media reports. Officers also arrested her boyfriend.
Chicago Police Officer Robert Perez confirmed to msnbc.com that “an incident took place at 8:25 p.m. and two adults were placed under arrest, and a Taser was used on one individual.” He said the Chicago Police Department refused to comment further on the case.
According to The Chicago Tribune, Tiffany Rent was ticketed for parking in a handicapped space at a Walgreens in the Roseland neighborhood, located in south Chicago. A police report states Rent ripped up the ticket, threw it at the officer and apparently "attempted to take off," according to the Tribune.
At some point, a Taser was used to take the woman into custody, the Tribune reported.
Rent was taken to Roseland Community Hospital, where a nursing supervisor told the Tribune the baby appeared to be unharmed. Rent's sister, Shareeta Rent, told the Tribune her sister is eight months pregnant. She was treated and later released, the nursing supervisor told the Tribune.
"I'm outraged, just livid. Who does that?" Shareeta Rent told the Tribune.
Shareeta Rent said her 30-year-old sister was sitting in her SUV when she was pulled out of the vehicle by officers. She said Rent was taunted while she was on the ground.
Shareeta Rent also said her sister's two children also were in the vehicle during the dispute.
"How could you do that to a pregnant woman?" Shareeta Rent told the Tribune. "My niece and nephew are in the back seat of the car crying. They did that in front of her kids."
Boyfriend Joseph Hobbs, the father of the unborn child, was arrested when he tried to intervene, police said. He suffered a dislocated elbow during the arrest, the Tribune reported.
Rent and Hobbs were each charged with resisting arrest and simple assault. Rent also was issued another ticket for parking in a handicapped space, according to NBCChicago.com.
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Oh I am sure she was just sitting there having a sing-a-long with her kids and the big bad cops came along and pulled her out of the car without provocation and tasered her for belly laughs. Please.
There are obviously two sides to the story. They might not have known she was pregnant, maybe she is obese. Why did she rip it up? Why did she park in a handicapped space without a sticker? Why didn't she just move her car when she was asked?
Doesn't matter why she was sitting there.
This is a dispute over a PARKING SPACE. No pregnant woman should EVER be tased over a parking space. I don't care why she was in that spot.
You wanna arrest her for ripping up the ticket and "attempting to take off", go ahead. Arresting her is completely justified. Tasering her is completely unjustified.
For 200 years, this country's police officers were able to arrest 8-months-pregnant women without the use of tasers. I don't believe that all of a sudden, these pregnant woman are now too strong to be arrested by the average cop and must be tased.
I would bet this woman was crass, arrogant, and aggressive to the police officers. I bet she was a real work-of-art, POS. None of that matters. She was 8-months pregnant and this skirmish was over a PARKING SPOT.
Call for backup and arrest her. Don't tase her or ANY OTHER PREGNANT WOMAN.
Over a freakin parking space.....
I suppose the cops could have given her a few warning shots.
.
Her sisters name is Shareeta...don't need to know anything else. Good job Chicago PD, keep up the good work.
I love it when all of the AWM's from Stormfront flock to MSNBC whenever a story about race is involved (especially if it's a black person).
They should have just given her a ticket like everyone else gets for parking somewhere without the proper permit. This is too discusting.
It ticks me off when people park in handicapped spaces, but keep this in perspective. She was tasered and assaulted over a frigging PARKING ticket!
Well at least I'm not out gang-banging and collecting welfare like most ABM's.
Harold wrote "She was tasered and assaulted over a frigging PARKING ticket!"
Incorrect. She was tasseling for hassling the police and resisting arrest after she was angered that she was ticketed for an obvious infraction. I'm certainly not defending tasering.
Most American women look pregnant, so it's hard to tell if the cops knew. No comments so far mentioned that the father tried to intervene to help his wife and suffered a dislocated elbow. He is disposable, right?
Bull, "most American women look pregnant." A lot of American women are fat, but fat and eight months pregnant do not look the same. You don't taser a person you even SUSPECT of being pregnant.
Hey you gotta give some credit to Jack. Some people just can't admit when they are being belligerent racists. The first step of recovery is admitting you have a problem...
Let's see. Cop doing his job. Person parked illegally. Person fails to obey a police officer's command to move. Cop issue's ticket. Should be a done deal, but no.... Person starts ranting, and acting up with visual and verbal insubordination toward the cop. Person rips up the ticket and throws it at the cop, a battery, technically. Person attempts to leave by driving away. Cop does his job again and prevents perpetrator from leaving in order to affect an arrest. Person refuses repeated demands to stop...a crime. Cop uses reasonable force to stop the person from escaping, a taser, and is then attacked by a passenger in the car. All are arrested. Now, help me, where was the police misconduct? This has con-man set up written all over it. Most big cities have money in the bank to deal with these kinds of scams. An easy $5k to shut her up and make her go away. I bet she has sued people before. Too bad the media won't investigate properly, they never do. I noticed during the news casts they never asked her why she was parked illegally, or why she refused to move her vehicle when the police said to. No, I think Ms. Rents has trouble with authority and now is going to try and get a few bucks out of the taxpayers to feed her McDonalds habit (ooops, sorry. She was pregnant. How insensitive of me). C'mon, media. Why are you always on the side of the cons? Too much work to investigate, is why.
she didnt have a sticker, nor was able to present anyone who was with her was handicapped. so like i would get a ticket, so she was given one. she apparently, knowing, KNOWING, she was pregnant, chose to (by the sounds over her reaction to getting a ticket) be more than over reacting. she could just as easy pulled he vehical to a pickup section in front of the store, or did a few laps. NO BIGGIE!
when she "threw" the ticket at the officer after ripping it up in his face, i would say ya, she has a few more coming. HER leaving, in that pi$$ed off a state to disobey a direct order from an officer, to me, means a good possibility this woman was not rational. with kids in the car, AND PREGNANT, it is very possible they did it for everyones saftey... pregnant or not, if she is a danger.... contain her. being she was not only irrational, disobeying a command to stop, knowingly, puts even the community at risk.
i think if at some point she would have just said "oooops, sorry, i didnt realise i was a b!tch just now" she might have even got off, a little lighter being she is pregnant. i dont care what race, or color she is. if it were my wife, she'd be getting an earful. because SHE put herself in that situation... and knowingly.... think what would be the outcome? seriously? she put her own baby in danger. the cops, might never have even known. it matters. it all matters. i also believe they had warned her if she didnt cooperate, stop, whatever, she was going to be zapped. that was more my guess when she attempted to put the vehical in gear. not to mention, most people catch a bullet for pulling that sort of stunt.
i have no pity for this woman, her actions brought the result. and it sounds, like she recieved immediate treatment. not a lot of people do.
HamatoKameko
lol... i seen women who were preggo as hell, and it was hard to tell. 2nd, she may not have told the officers she was preggo, and even if she did, SHE blew it out of proportion, not the cops. and since when was being a lic OB/GYN (sic?), made a requirement to enforce the law? would you believe someone if they were beligerant with you, ripped up a ticket in front of your face and then threw that ticket at you... thats more than pushing it, and i think she was watching too many of those, "cops who take a reaming" clips. kind of wonder about the validity of those sometimes... sort of to entice the wrong people, lol.
Exactly Vincent and cops have not been arresting pregnant women for over 200 years without tasers Howard... Women used to move their cars if a cop told them to. As for her aunt saying they did that in front of her kids.. SHE did that in front of her kids, SHE was not setting a good example it is all on her. She showed her kids that it is ok to disobey authority. If you think what the cop asked you to do was unreasonable take it to court. This is in no way admirable or courageous, it's silly and fool-hardy and SHE did this all over a parking space. They should remove all of the kids including the unborn one that she cared so little for.
The woman showed no respect for the officer, and now wants to cry about being pregnant. Why didn't she care about that before she escalated the situation? She should have followed their directions in the first place, fine example for her children...and people wonder how kids grow up to be thugs.
people are people all over the world, Black, White, Hispanics and no matter what color not all races work or pay taxes, you have trash in all races although some races believe they are SUPERIOR!
They had already written the ticket. They could have mailed it to her (it doesn't matter that she tore it up, they either have an electronic or carbon copy), and included an extra ticket for her behavior. They didn't have to use the taser. Not only that, you can't blame the boyfriend (and father of the unborn baby) for interfering in an attempt to stop bodily harm to his girlfriend and baby. I hope that a judge throws his arrest out (or at least reduces the charges), as it was instinctive for him to act the way he did in the heat of the moment to protect his mate and child. All that being said, being pregnant is not an excuse to get belligerent with the police and if anyone here is at fault, it really is her. She knew that her children were in the car watching. If she thought that she wouldn't get tazed just because she was pregnant... Well that was obviously a serious miscalculation on her part.
surely they could have resolved this without using such force!
Yes they could have. She could have done what they asked her to do.
Actually the Supreme Court has ruled that once someone is handed a ticket the stop is officially over and you have every right to leave. She can rip up the ticket, turn it into a voodoo doll, frame it, or use it as toilet paper. The very most they could have done is written her another ticket for littering, but they didn't. This an obvious misuse of force by police, regardless of if she was pregnant or not.
apawelczyk,
It became assault/battery when she threw the torn up ticket in the cop's face. I am not condoning the tasering, but nonetheless, if she didn't give lip and aggravate the situation, she wouldn't have been tasered.
Damn police holding a person accountable for her actions. She is obviously special and deserves to park where she wants to, the hell with an actually handicapped person who may need to park there. If a person thinks a ticket was given in error or was not deserved the proper way to handle it is to accept the ticket and then fight it in traffic court. Anyone who thinks that throwing things at the police is going to result in anything but an escalation of force on the side of the police is a fool.
Ok kids in the backseat.. today's lesson is what happens when you piss off a cop... any questions?
I'm no fan of cops that's for sure but in the course of a stop it's all yes sir and no sir, just like Mom and Dad taught me. These people that feel they can break any law and then bitch and scream that they are the victim ALL deserve to be tasered. She knew she was pregnant, she should have acted like a lady and apologized for possibly screwing a disabled person out of the spot.
"The police are not here to create disorder. They are here to preserve disorder." ---Richard J. Daley, 1968
Cops seem to be getting really stupid lately, with the tasers and pepper spray. I wonder if there is not more that toe police did that is not being reported...they will probably get promoted for assaulting a pregnant woman. @!$%#ing cowards.
People who don't obey laws are also kind of stupid, and sometimes darn right combative.
bobr43502-pay your taxs you shivering little mutt
I see you must be a cop hater. I can't imagine a cop just going over there without provocation and yanking her out of the car and tasing her. I do agree that was extreme. But come on lets be fair and hear both sides.She could have been gracious and just move, And why park in handicap space if you're not getting out.
".they will probably get promoted for assaulting a pregnant woman." Boy, I hope so! Job well done. The trash was taken out. You don't get to poke the beehive then whine when you get stung.
Police tend to sometimes go over board.....this is one of those times forsure!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
These police officers are getting out of hand with these tasers. I am sure they could have arrested an 8 month pregnant woman without using a taser. what if they would have killed that innocent unborn baby? The woman probably made him mad by running off at the mouth, and that is probably why he tased her. This is why a lot of people don't have respect or trust police officers.
"Running off at the mouth" is protected speech! You know that first amendment thingy in the U.S. Constitution! As long as she doesn't threaten violence, obstruct or intimidate then she can say anything she wants to the cops. If she refused to move then all they had to do was write her a ticket and let the courts decide. Typical cops nowadays are nothing more than revenue generators at the best and power hungry nazis at their worst. A convenience store clerk and a taxi driver's job is more dangerous!
^ Godwin's Law.
Get rid of the tasers and go back to bullets??????
Or hey maybe they should have tasered her ass after she ran the cop over. What is with people, just because you are pregant doesn't mean you are handicapped and you are above the law. Where is her personal responsibilty in this? She overreacted to a ticket that was legally issued. Where has people's respect for the law gone? I understand there are bad cops out there but most are not and the fact remains if she had just acted like an ADULT in front of her kids and owned up to her wrongdoing then this would have never happened.
For real. I completely agree with you.
I bet that wasn't the first time she felt a taser.
Between the insolence and arrogance of the welfare set and the increasing belligerence of semi-civil cops, we're going to have an incident one day.
And of course country king you know first hand that this woman was on welfare right? Please return to your trailer with the rest of trash!
And you know for a fact that this classless bit of garbage WASN'T? Please continue defending the indefensible dregs that are dragging down our society as whole.
TorpedoYou
It's obvious she's on welfare. Pregnant, 2 kids in the back seat, boyfriend....not to mention her sisters name being Shareeta...Come on man....
ignorant pieces of sh*t all of you! well then fine, lemme play in to the stereotype a lil bit, you sound like white trash, inbred meth addicted wife beaters who's only book you can read is the bible and looooooooove you your nig beatin stick! did i get that right? probably not because RELYING ON STEREOTYPES TO FRAME A PERSON'S PERSONALITY DOESN'T WORK! i thought we were in the 21st century, now, i guess not.
She should have just moved her car, dont feel sorry for her..
Her sister must be confused; she was none compliant and obviously combative so she was tased just like any other person on the street would have been had they acted like that when interacting with a law enforcement officer. Pregnancy is not a shield nor is having your children present thus the idiot woman deserved it.
It is a shame that the woman had such little disregard for the example she presents to her children and the safety of her unborn child.
Nothing in the law says that the has to accept the ticket! She can rip it up. If she doesn't appear in court then the city issues a warrant or turns her over to a collection agency. The cop could have ticketed her again for littering or disturbing the peace. She could have torn those up too. Had the cop walked away then we wouldn't have this problem. Pure case of excessive force on the part of the cops. The use of a taser was out of line.
Handicap parking spaces are just that for the handicapped. Every Saturday I go food shopping and sure enough there is either a fat person or a young kid parked in the handicapped spots. Fat does not make you handicapped either does old or pregnant. We won't talk about LAZY!!! You need to have a handicap and sport handicapped plates - not just that stupid sticker or rear view mirror tag you can buy off Ebay. In NJ you get a $2,500.00 fine if they catch you - in PA they could never catch you cause no one cares. The police did what they should have done and that women and her family have no right to say "she's pregnant they shouldn't have done that - she shouldn't have parked there in the first place and 2nd she should not have resisted and torn up the ticket.
Look at it this way Kathy:
Fat preggers lady parks in Handicap Zone!
Cop sees her and tells her to move.
She says "$crew You i ain't moving you &^(* Pig."
Cop writes ticket. And Puts it on car.
Preggers woman tears up ticket and curses out cop some more.
Cop issues another ticket for littering, disorderly conduct,, obstructing a police officer etc and walks away!
No need to taser this woman..She was not a threat to them or to the public.
This woman would have had lotsa fun in court.
Now the cops are on the defensive for perceived excessive use of force.
The fact that this woman was pregnant is beside the point.
Excellent post...I totally agree !
Look at it this way, Torpedo. She didn't just tear up the ticket. She threw it in his face. She threw something at a cop. She wasn't tazed because she parked in a handicapped spot. She was tazed because she was placed under arrest for battery on a cop. That's where she screwed up. That's where the line is drawn. She evaded arrest.
oh no, she threw pieces of paper in a cop's face! he might get a wittle paper cut on his wittle piggy snout! oh whatever will happen to the poor wittle piggy??!
The police didn't do anything to her or her kids. She did!
Cops and criminals act pretty similar these days. Their power trips are frightening!
She is the one who put her unborn child at risk entirely by her behavior!! And she is obviously a total idiot! The cops were just doing their job. Their job is made harder when dealing with morons. She deserves whatever penalty she has to pay. If she had kept her giant mouth under control it would not have escalated to where she was tased! How typical, that after she got herself into a situation, she goes "Boo Hoo, I'm pregnant". She is the type of person that should not have babies!!! My sympathy in 100% with the police officers who were just doing the job we taxpayers want them to do.
Typical Chicaogo cops who havenothing better to do. Here was a chance to amke friends-instead theydid everypossilbe thing worng . they could havesimply worte anther ticket-how hard would that be? But no theyhad tobe Mr Big shot and taser. Mayor emanual should fire the cop yesterday.
Yeah...damn them for doing their jobs and subduing someone evading arrest. What did they do wrong? They ticketed someone for breaking the law, then tried to arrest her when she committed what is technically battery, not to mention littering, and then, when she resisted arrest behind the wheel of a vehicle finally tazed her. It sounds to me like he did everything he could to keep the situation from escalating into what it became, but the classless woman wouldn't let them.
Some cops think they are above the law. Why, on earth, did they have to use a taser on a pregnant woman? What is wrong with the police today? They think they can do anything they want and get away with it.
Would you rather the cop use his pepper spray? Or perhaps his firearm?
If she is so worried about her unborn child, now, why is she starting distubrances and a fight over a parking spot with the police? Please. Not buying it. I am sure she will raise her kid the same way.
If she is a Democrat...then her child is not officially human until its actually born. Otherwise...its just her "body."
Either way, the kid is screwed with this mother.
WhitCybi, I agree with you 100%!!!!! With her for a mother, this poor child will probably have a police record before it is 16 years old!!
No respect for the law.
Agree with most of the comments. She is 100% at fault for this incident for parking in a handicap space, not moving her car, and ripping up the ticket creating a confrontation. When are we going to stop blaming law enforcement trying to enforce laws, and get back to holding people responsible for their actions! I am sick and tired of this 'blame society' or 'the other guy'. She was clearly in the wrong and chose to be confrontational instead of admitting her error and doing what was right. She got what she deserved!
HELLO pregnant or not she is NOT above the law...... How dare she risk the babys life like that.. She is a unfit mother and doesnt deserve to have the kid... She is selfish and thinks she is above the law.... good for the cops for doing what they did.
This is a Paradox. On one hand, I bet the cop would have let the ticket go had she NICELY and RESPECTFULLY told him that she was uncomfortably 8 months pregnant and asked for some leniency in this case. Then again, as most of us dads know, a woman that is 8 months pregnant can be pretty feisty, sleep deprived and viciously over reactive about anything they don't like!
No need to Tazer over a parking ticket though... unless she was physically endagering someone or herself.
Stories like this make me sick to my stomach! But my real outrage is that I live in the same world as some of the commentors on this article! I pass you by on the freeway, I sit next to you in restaraunts, go to the same Doctor as you... and knowing the evil that seeths thru your words is simply intolerable. 1> Pregnant Women in the last tri-mester are miserable and are NOT to be toyed with. 2> This stinks just as much as Trevon Martin, any bets on the race of the officers? 3> They PROVOKED her, all that was needed was a moment just a minute of human and mankind empathy and understanding! But finally, how do those of you who made such horrid comments about one of your Sisters; live with the effects of your hate speech? You are using your name, or one you made up, and you dont care one bit about the feelings of others whatsoever. I am so sad that this is all that you have to offer, in your gesture of making the world a better place? *sigh* Has everyone forgotten what Mom said: "if you cant say something nice" or is it just plain fun oor sport for you to be mean and cruel?
Jerri, I was 8 months pregnant 4 times.. Never once did it make me screw over a handicapped person, throw stuff in a cops face or make myself into a total out of control B-I-T-C-H in front of little kids... Write your advice on in a letter and mail it to this woman, she's the one that needs to know how to behave.
where was her compassion for handicapped people, you know the people who actually have a right to that space or where was her humanity when she was spewing profanities in the officers face in front of her children. she was the one who instigated the confrontation. instead of acting like an adult and just accepting the ticket. if she felt it was wrong she could have fought it in traffic court. im sure these officers who put there lives on the line everyday and deal with these morons appreciate her compassion and humanity.
After seeing what my wife and her friends go through at 8 months pregnant, I would not be opposed to letting women 7 months or more have a temporary "Pregnancy" pass and be able to legally use handicap spaces too. Walking accross a parking lot , seep deprived, with a watermelon in your crotch, cramped up leg muscles and an aching lower back is reason enough in my book. God bless women deal do that!
I have been 8 months pregnant before. I have never had a problem obeying the law, acting like a civil person and functioning in society. Just because a woman is pregnant does not mean she should be not "be toyed with.' IE: Given a parking ticket.
Re: Jerri McCarthy comments: Are you stupid, or what? What don't you understand about "she provoked them"?? Then your feeble mind turns it into a race issue!!! Your hysterical rantings are not what the situation needs!! Maybe she should have remembered what "Mom Said" before she went NUTS on the Police Officers who were simply trying to do their job. God, are you stupid. If you don't have anything intelligent to say, do the world a favor and keep your moronic thoughts to your self!!!!
Ok, I have been that way 3 times... and no I did not break the law, and this past Febuary, I had a total knee replacement and was given as a mater of procedure a handicap sticker application to fill at the DMV. I never got the permit, because it is not or has it even been my habit to park as close as possible, I always leave those spaces for others who "need" them. I was not saying that I thought this stemmed from a parking ticket, there certainly was another factor in play here, and the officer NEVER EVER EVER should have tazed this woman! She may have been suffering from some unseen medical condition, and Officers are trained in de-escalating situations and to avoid at all costs INFLAMING them, certainly we do not KNOW THE TRUTH here, and should reserve our nasty comments until we here the rest of the story!
So, not KNOWING what she did to provoke the taser, YOU'RE blaming the officers for THEIR response.
That's logical apparently in YOUR mind, but not in the mind of any person with an ability to think rationally and logically.
Never ever ever? Wow. Incredibly simplistic, black and white approach you have there. So, let's see... what if she pulled a knife? What if she pulled a gun? Would that be justified? Or y'know...the idiot is pregnant...So, nope! No tazing?
You stated Jerri, "certainly we do not KNOW THE TRUTH here, and should reserve our nasty comments until we here the rest of the story!" Well, then maybe you shouldn't be posting under the assumption the officers must have provoked her, she is an innocent pregnant woman and women in the third trimester shouldn't be toyed with?
She has just as much responsibility in this situation as the others. She made the choice to act that way. Do not blame it on pregnancy and then race bait. If countless other pregnant women can act civilly, then she can too.
Common truths:
If you park in a restricted spot without the appropriate permits, you will get ticketed or towed.
If you become beligerant with the police they are going to react aggressively.
If you resist arrest, they will taze you.
These things are not novel ideas: pretty much everyone know them. Why would she think she would be the exception? Pregnant women can fire a weapon at an officer as easily as a non-pregnant one.