LAWSUIT: COPS PUT BAG ON WOMAN’S HEAD, STRAP HER TO CHAIR AND CHOKE HER TO DRAW BLOOD FOR DUI TEST
"Officers used choke hold pressure points on her neck, until her body went limp"
by STEVE WATSON | INFOWARS.COM | FEBRUARY 9, 2015
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A woman is suing a host of parties after it emerged that cops in Austin, Texas, forcably took her blood for a DUI test, in a scene that sounds more like something that would occur at a Guantanamo Bay prison camp.
Caroline Callaway was arrested by a police officer after she refused to take a breath test during a routine traffic stop. Ms Callaway was taken directly to the Travis County jail where the shocking events unfolded.
Callaway’s attorney told reporters with Courthouse News that despite only “passive and verbal resistance” she was taken “to a small padded room, where she was surrounded by officers and strapped into ‘the chair,’ with her legs, wrists and shoulders restrained.”
Callaway, who had informed the police that she suffers from anxiety disorder and uses medications for the ailment, then “began to involuntarily tremble from anxiety and fear.” This prompted the cops to put a bag, known as a “Tranzport Hood,” over her head to deprive the senses, in some backwards notion that this would have a calming effect.
All the hood did was cause Callaway to panic further as she could not see what was happening and had further difficulty breathing.
A contracted nurse was on hand to perform the blood draw, but according to the complaint, “the needle popped out because of Ms. Callaway’s shaking and blood spewed onto one of the officers.”
“(D)efendants continued the abuse determined to take Ms. Callaway’s blood. In order to stop Ms. Callaway from trembling, one of the officers used choke hold pressure points on her neck, until her body went limp.” the complaint further notes.
“Defendant Ramsey-Graham stabbed Ms. Callaway again while Ms. Callaway was limp.” It continues. “When the officer released her neck, Ms. Callaway gasped for air. She could not see because there was a bag over her head, but she felt the weight of a boot in the crook of her arm, which, along with the rest of her body, was still tied to the chair.”
Injuries sustained by Callaway during the ordeal included nerve damage and severe bruising, most prominently on her neck as a result of the choking at the hands of the cops. She says that she is also suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Callaway was charged with DWI based on the blood test results, but the lawsuit outlines that the results are liekly innaccurate owing to the circumstances.
She is suing the city of Austin, Travis County, Austin police officers, county sheriff’s officers, Pro-touch Nurses and one of its employees, on teh grounds of unlawful search and seizure, excessive force, assault and battery, negligence and medical malpractice.
Callaway is seeking punitive damages for emotional injuries, pain and suffering, embarrassment, humiliation, indignity, medical bills, lost wages and legal fees.
Callaway says she is pursuing the case in order to “change a government policy here and nationwide for the betterment of all citizens.”
As Infowars has previously noted, breathalyzer tests have been proven to be inaccurate in a high percentage of cases, with many factors rendering the results “little more than scientific guesswork”. Further research has shown that police officers often influence the results of breathalyzer tests, resulting in inaccurately high readings. Drivers are well within their rights to refuse to engage in such tests. Blood tests can also produce false high readings of alcohol levels if they are not conducted quickly and properly.
This information is important, many argue, because it means that enforced tests could provide police with self-incriminating evidence.
In previous examples of police conducting the practice, horror stories have emerged of Americans being forcibly restrained and having their blood extracted.
The following footage filmed in 2013 in Georgia shows cops strapping down citizens to gurneys, before using a needle to forcibly draw blood as the victim screams, “WHAT COUNTRY IS THIS?”
Even those who show no resistance whatsoever are forcibly restrained and have their heads pressed down by an officer using his elbow.
“We all are American citizens and you guys have me strapped to a table like I’m in Guantanamo f***ing Bay,” complains another victim of the blood draw.
Attorneys have argued that the forced blood draws are an unreasonable search, and constitute a violation of the Fourth Amendment.
Georgia and Orgeon are two of numerous states that enforce the federally sponsored ‘no refusal’ checkpoints. In 2005, the Supreme Court ruled that it is not unconstitutional to hold down Americans and forcefully withdraw blood. A January 2013 ruling affirmed that a warrant must be obtained for the process, although police could dispense with the warrant requirement in an “emergency”.
In some states, decades old implied consent law, which allowed drivers to say no to blood or urine tests, has been overturned to allow the process to take place in so called ‘no-refusal’ blood-draw checkpoints.
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Steve Watson is a London based writer and editor for Alex Jones’ Infowars.com, and Prisonplanet.com. He has a Masters Degree in International Relations from the School of Politics at The University of Nottingham, and a Bachelor Of Arts Degree in Literature and Creative Writing from Nottingham Trent University.
