DETROIT – A 27-year-old woman faced sentencing Tuesday morning in connection with an assault of a Detroit police officer who was stunned with a Taser.
Erica Garcia, 27, of Detroit, pleaded guilty to felonious assault and attempting to resist and obstruct a police officer. She was sentenced to two years of probation and must finish her GED.
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The incident happened on Clippert Street. Officers were responding to a call about children in a car smoking marijuana when neighbors interfered with the police. Garcia went into a house during the commotion, grabbing a Taser and using it against an officer.
“I’m not just going around tasing people I work hard for my kids. I work constantly. I volunteer for my son at the children’s center. I did 12 days in jail. I did four months on this tether,” Garcia said. “I don’t think I should go to jail.”
The judge said Garcia's clean record shows that she is not a danger to the community and time behind bars would not help anyone warranting a lighter sentence.
The officer was not present in the courtroom.
Garcia was charged along with 23-year-old Mario Delgado. He pleaded guilty to charges of resisting and obstructing, as he rushed the officer during the investigation on Clippert Street.
Both were arrested at the scene.
Delgado is expected to be sentenced Oct. 23.
Garcia is charged with felonious assault, possession of a Taser and resisting and obstructing police.
Police release dashcam video
Police released bodycam footage from a scene in Southwest Detroit, where an officer was stunned by a woman with a Tase gun.
Officers said they were trying to conduct a traffic stop when residents started acting out, leading to an officer being stunned by a Taser gun. Residents said police were using excessive force when the weapon was used.
Here's the video released by the Detroit Police Department. WARNING: There is strong and profane language in the video.
Police statement
DPD released the following statement about the incident on its Facebook page:
"As promised, in an effort to maintain transparency with our community, we are releasing body camera footage from the incident that occurred in Southwest Detroit, in the 3600 block of Clippert on July 5, 2017.
"Previous media reports indicate that Ms. Smith stated that officers were using excessive force when an officer was tased (sic). This video refutes her statement and shows that no officer was engaged in using force at the time in which the female assaulted our officer with a Taser.
"We are a constitutional policing agency and will continue to strive to maintain a respectful and honest relationship with our community; and we only ask the same in return."
Detroit police Chief James Craig said the video clearly shows the officer was simply walking near the woman who stunned him.
"I"m telling you, we have the video that shows the officer was doing nothing but standing there trying to maintain peace," Craig said. "Someone leaves their private residents and Tases him. That's what happened."
Craig said he doesn't care of people videotape police, but he doesn't like when the videos are aired and don't tell the whole story.
"Those images -- you have an angry number of people in the neighborhood, angry at the police for doing there job," Craig said. "In these videos taken by citizens, it's very caustic, and when it's all said and done, we didn't do anything wrong."
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