2 Investigators: Woman Has Miscarriage After Being Tased By Chicago Cop
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A Chicago woman says a police officer caused her to have a miscarriage when he shot a Taser into her stomach.
The incident happened in front of her children, who were frightened and crying. As CBS 2's Dave Savini reports, the officer involved, Patrick Kelly, has a troubled past including a lengthy list of complaints against him and a suspension.
Elaina Turner says she was "screaming for her life" that day in 2013 when police were going to wrongly tow her fiance's van.
She says Kelly went for his Taser after she asked if she could get her child's car seat out of the van. Kelly, she says, yelled out the words, "Taser, Taser, Taser" before deploying it.
"As I hear that, I look down and I have a Taser in my belly," Turner says. "I get two more in my arms."
The 32-year-old, who has never been convicted of anything in her life, says she collapsed on the ground as Kelly stood over her and continued to activate the Taser, sending jolt after jolt into her body.
"He continued to do that for maybe at least about two minutes of me on the ground while my children were on the porch, watching this whole situation," Turner says.
She was pregnant and had a miscarriage a few days later.
When asked by Savini about the allegation, Kelly responded: "Call my attorney."
"This is an officer who has had more than 20 complaints by citizens over the years," said Jeff Granich, the attorney for Turner.
Granich says despite Turner's complaint, the Independent Police Review Authority failed to question Kelly about this for two years until a federal lawsuit was filed.
"Officer Kelly, I think right now, is pretty much the poster child for what's wrong with the Chicago Police, what's wrong with IPRA, what's wrong with accountability within the Chicago Police," Granich says.
As the CBS 2 Investigators first reported, Kelly is now also under investigation in the 2010 near-fatal shooting of his friend, Mike Laporta.
This incident happened at Kelly's house, with Kelly's gun, after a night of heavy drinking. Kelly was disciplined for not securing his gun and for swinging at a responding female police sergeant.
He served a two-month suspension for the Laporta case and went right back to work on the streets in the police district where Elaina Turner lives.
Turner says she is frustrated the officer is still on the street.
"It really makes me mad, and I don't think that he should be allowed to do this to anybody else," she says.
Kelly arrested Turner for resisting an officer, but she was found not guilty.
Granich, the attorney, is suing the city and officer Pat Kelly in federal court. A spokesperson for the Independent Police Review Authority says its investigation into Turner's case is expected to be completed soon and it has changed the way IPRA manages cases to ensure quality and timeliness for all investigations.
Complaints against Kelly date as far back as 2001. Police are now re-examining how Mike LaPorta was shot.