A Black female frontline worker said she intends to sue a police department in upstate New York after they used “excessive force” during what she described as an unlawful arrest.
Shana Shaw, who was driving at the time of the incident, was stopped by Ulster County Deputy Sheriff Brian Woltman Jr. in a Buffalo Wild Wings parking lot for failing to signal a turn.
During the stop, Woltman accused Shaw of driving on a suspended license, something Shaw said she recently cleared up and had papers at home to prove. Less than a minute into the altercation, Woltman asked Shaw to step out of the car and when she asked why, he responded because I’m placing you under arrest. Shaw soon got back in her car and told Woltman she was calling her lawyer.
The body cam footage then shows Woltman attempting to grab Shaw’s arm to pull her out of the car. Shaw begins to beg Woltman to stop, before the officer uses a taser on her. A second officer eventually shows up and helps Woltman.
Shaw was charged with driving on a suspended license, resisting arrest, and marijuana possession and was released on an appearance ticket according to Hudson Valley One. Shaw said the incident kept her out of work for multiple days as she suffered with nerve damage in her wrists, a concussion, and bruises.
“I feel fully taken advantage of,” Shaw told Hudson Valley One. “I don’t think there needed to be two male officers to yoke up a girl that is 130 pounds, in her scrubs from work, and I’m an essential worker.”
Woltman has been previously accused of false detention and excessive force against another woman who is also suing Woltman and Ulster County. Shaw plans on joining that suit.
Ulster County Sheriff Juan Figueroa released the body camera footage of the incident along with a statement on Facebook.
The incident follows a summer of protests and actions against the police. In the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests and the deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, police department budgets were slashed across the country.
