Appeals court rules tasering of mom, son no breach of rights

Two Little Rock police officers acted within their constitutional authority when one of them used a Taser three times while arresting a mother and her son in a high school parking lot, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.

Overturning the trial judge’s ruling, a three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that officers Hubert Bryant and Chris Oldham did not violate the “clearly established rights” of Dedra Rudley and her son, Montrell Bailey, during the May 8, 2014, arrest.

Writing for the panel, Judge Roger Wollman of Sioux Falls, S.D., said the case was similar to one in which the full 8th Circuit court found last month that an officer in Wymore, Neb., did not violate a woman’s rights when he threw her to the ground, breaking her collarbone, near a public swimming pool.

Like the woman in that case, “Rudley may have seemingly posed little physical danger to the officers, shod as she was in high-heeled shoes,” Wollman wrote.

Quoting from the earlier opinion, he continued, “Based on Rudley’s behavior and the information known to Bryant at the time, however, ‘a reasonable officer in [Bryant]’s position could have believed that it was important to control the situation and to prevent a confrontation … that could escalate.’”

The Little Rock arrests came after Rudley, who was 37 at the time, and her son, who was 17, met with then-J.A. Fair High School Principal Jeremy Owoh just over a week after Bailey’s collarbone was broken during an “altercation” at the school, Wollman wrote.

After the meeting became hostile, Owoh asked security officers to escort the mother and son from the premises and said Rudley had thrown a book at him, the judge wrote. Bryant, who was working as a school resource officer, asked Rudley for her identification, which she said was in her car in the parking lot, Wollman wrote.

Bailey said that, in the parking lot, Bryant stood close to Rudley as she looked for her identification and at one point appeared to reach for his gun, according to the opinion.

In Bailey’s version of the events, Bailey asked the officer what he was reaching for, and the officer told Bailey he was under arrest, Wollman wrote.

Bryant said he told Bailey he was under arrest for terroristic threats after the youth acted aggressively and threatened the officer, Wollman wrote.

The officer said Rudley then pushed him before falling to the ground. A camera attached to the officer’s Taser recorded Rudley saying, “wait a minute motherf ***** ” and taking a step toward Bryant as the officer told her to “stop — get back,” according to the opinion and court records.

Bryant then shocked Rudley with the Taser.