Court to Review Tasering|of Pregnant Woman

(CN) - The 9th Circuit has agreed to rehear a case brought by a Seattle woman who claimed her civil rights were violated by police when they shot her three times with a Taser while she was 7 months pregnant because she refused to sign a speeding ticket.

Malaika Brooks will get another chance to argue that three Seattle police officers used excessive force by Tasering her when she refused to get out of her car after she was pulled over for speeding in a school zone while taking her son to school.

After being pulled over, Brooks argued with the officers, refused to sign the speeding ticket and accused Officer Donald Jones of being racist.

When Officer Stephen Danam told Brooks she was under arrest, she refused to get out of the car and remained in the driver's seat with the ignition running and her door closed. When the officers couldn't forcibly remove her, they allegedly pinned her left arm behind her back and Tasered her three times.

Brooks delivered a healthy baby two months later, but filed assault and battery charges against the officers, who were denied immunity by the district court.

A 2-1 majority in Seattle reversed that decision, ruling that Brook's erratic behavior posed a threat to the offices and thus her constitutional rights were not violated.

The 9th Circuit voted to have a nine-judge panel rehear the case. The decision to rehear the case en banc automatically vacates the panel's ruling.

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