Woman Sues Police After Hits to Her Stomach Caused Premature Birth

[mrsbright]

Apparently, some cops don't go softer on pregnant women.

A Brooklyn woman who was pregnant when police slammed her to the ground, is now filing a lawsuit against the NYPD. The suit states that the take-down, which was caught on video, led to serious health complications, and forced her to give birth prematurely.
Sandra Amezquita, 44, had to have her labor induced on December 15th. That’s when she gave birth to her son Kevin Lemos at Lutheran Medical Center. This was a full month before her due date and doctors agree that the police were to blame.
They explained that as a result of the slamming, “she was losing fluids in her womb,†Amezquita’s friend Dennis Flores said.
Amezquita’s lawyer, Norman Siegel, said that the police brutality incident, which took place on September 20th, “resulted in complications to the pregnancy.â€

Apparently, the cause for this was that she was seen intervening in the arrest of her teenage son. The video shows the police pushing her to the ground on her pregnant-looking belly, and also hitting her in the stomach with a baton.

Cops Slammed Pregnant Woman On Her Stomach, Hit Her With Batons, Now She Is Suing After Giving Birth Prematurely « ALTERNATIVE MEDIA SYNDICATE

 

[jeremy2]

Police being the custodians of the rule of law should take reasonable care when dealing with civilians.As much as the lady was guilty of interfering with the arrest of her son,the police should have applied reasonable force when subduing her.I mean,that lady was heavily pregnant and that was clearly visible.It's a miracle that the child survived the ordeal but slamming her on the ground was totally unwarranted.

 

[Kittyworker]

I saw nothing wrong with that in the video. The lady was obvious resisting and trying to get away from the police. I think its more than appropriate that the police took her to the ground in order to prevent either her escape or danger to someone else. It is a shame that she experienced complications but she really should have thought about her condition when trying to disregard the police.

 

[stevesxs9]

This is the part of policing that I will never understand. Use any force necessary when your life is in danger, But slamming a pregnant woman to the ground is something I can't understand. Like I stated before, this is one reason why the violence against the Police has escalated. There needs to be better ways in handling those situations.

 

[Allison2021]

Before I viewed the video, the very first thought that came to mind was perhaps I would see an angry white male police officer attacking a pregnant woman of color.
Then, I just pressed the given link, and viewed the video. What did I see? Why is there so much racial hatred among the police and communities of color?
Next, I was shocked at the unprofessional manner of that one police officer. I do not care how frustrated and angry we may become, he should never have savagely attacked anybody who was on the ground getting handcuffed. Additionally, a pregnant woman to get treated like that was monstrous!

 

[mrsbright]

I saw nothing wrong with that in the video. The lady was obvious resisting and trying to get away from the police. I think its more than appropriate that the police took her to the ground in order to prevent either her escape or danger to someone else. It is a shame that she experienced complications but she really should have thought about her condition when trying to disregard the police.

And I think that this sort of attitude is exactly what allows police brutality to have grown into such proportions that you can find tons of videos of pregnant women getting attacked or handicaped people getting beaten up, though racial issues are a big point that you'd find if you looked up footage of police brutality.

The police are not Gods, and if you want to pretend that their authority is more important than anything, then I won't even attempt to argue this one out, because it's just weird.

Also as a woman the mere thought of anyone pushing a pregnant woman on her belly or punching her stomach makes me sick (probably the same sort of sick as men feel if they hear about male genital mutilation). That you see absolutely nothing wrong with it and that you come up with stuff like "She had it coming" just is beyond me.

 

[missbishi]

This is pretty outrageous. Surely there is some way of apprehending a pregnant woman rather than grounding her? Don't police ever receive any instruction or training for incidents like this? Oh yeah, she probably deserved to be arrested but handled in that manner? It's sickening.

I'm interested to read that the lady's doctor thinks that this treatment caused the complications to her pregnancy. She has every right to sue and I'll be following this case with interest.