A Texas woman has accused
a cop of beating her when she was 38 weeks pregnant. Thanks to a surveillance
system in her parents’ home, a video has been published online that appears to
prove her allegations. An investigation is under way.
The Hunt County sheriff’s
deputy has been identified as one of several officers who stood in the woman’s
home in Quinlan on the evening of March 4. Two officers can be seen keeping
Deanna Robinson in the corner of her kitchen, next to the counter, restraining
her, as her 18-month-old toddler watched.
US media report continues:
Next, the deputy can
clearly be seen taking at least two quick punches at Robinson, who wouldn’t
stop yelling. This was after she shouted, “I’m pregnant.” She was handcuffed during this, she told the
attorney’s office on Monday, according to WFAA.
Robinson, 38, is a
decorated Air Force veteran and recipient of the Airman’s Medal for the time
she pulled her colleagues out of a burning plane in Iraq. She now lives in
Quinlan, with another infant and three step children, aged six to nine. But her
marriage had been undergoing a turbulent period lately, which culminated in a
shoving match with her husband several days prior to the incident.
Apparently, one of the
kids told a teacher at school, who then reported the couple to Child Protection
Services.
She was arrested on March
4 on charges of resisting arrest, assaulting a police officer and interference
with child custody, and spent some six days in jail.
The court case was over
her 18-month-old son, Landry. The rest of the children are now in protective
custody, while the infant son, Levi – who was born less than a week after her
release from custody, is with grandparents.
That evening, child services
officials showed up at Robinson’s home, accompanied by sheriff’s deputies, to
take Landry away.
"I'm
38 weeks pregnant, and with my stomach again repeatedly pressed into that
counter, and with my 18-month old son watching his mother being assaulted, and
him screaming in fear," she says. "There's
nothing that warrants what they did to me."
She remembers the
officers telling her ‘We’re here to
remove your son,’ and her replying, ‘Nobody is touching my kid without a court
order or a warrant.’ The officers reportedly did not present any papers
and, when she tried to shut the door on them, forced their way in.
She tells WFAA: “I’m positioning myself in front of my child
as the officers are screaming, ‘There’s the kid, grab him!’” That’s when
they proceeded to handcuff her as she was pressed up against the kitchen
surface.
The police, however, had
a different narrative to the story: that Robinson was reaching for a weapon.
The evidence will be reviewed to establish the truth. The sheriff later told
reporters he was not sure what went down, but that the unidentified deputy said
Robinson had loosened his ammunition belt in the chaos.
In the video, Robinson
can be seen struggling with the officers, something she only says she did
because the pressure they were applying when pressing into her was hurting her
unborn child.
She later told reporters
the officers hit her five or six times. The video cuts off just before the
deputy’s hand comes down on her a second time. Robinson also reported lingering
pain for weeks, and her stomach appears to show bruising from the incident.
She’s thankful Levi is a
healthy child. “It certainly could
have turned out differently.” She says she misses her kids very much and
that she’ll be pushing for the officer responsible for hitting her repeatedly
to be fired.
Dozens of calls came to
the sheriff’s department following the release of the video. Hundreds of
concerned citizens also posted on the department’s Facebook page, voicing
outrage, while the town of Quinlan also saw people go out on to the streets,
encouraging others to view the video.
The sheriff department’s
Facebook page showed a statement from Sheriff Randy Meeks, saying that all such
cases are handled with the utmost seriousness and that an investigation is
under way to determine “if any
violations occurred.” He promised to make the findings public.
Robinson’s attorney Carol
Gustin told reporters “There’s no
reason in my mind that an officer should pull his hand up above his body and
hit a pregnant woman multiple times. Law officers are there to protect and
serve. Where was the protection for her and this baby?"
Her other attorney, Scott
Cornuaud, believes Child Protective Services is to blame for involving the
police at all. “They’re out of
control. There’s no oversight. They went about it the wrong way.”
CPS was onsite when the
incident with the police took place. Cornuaud wonders why they did not
intervene when a pregnant woman was being hit.
The services offered no
comment on this.
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