NYPD investigates sergeant who used Taser on pregnant 17-year-old in the Bronx
BY Andy Mai Thomas Tracy Rocco Parascandola John Annese Ben Kochman Graham Rayman
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Updated: Tuesday, February 14, 2017, 11:30 PM
- Tweet
A disturbing video captured an NYPD sergeant using a stun gun on a pregnant 17-year-old girl in the Bronx — and now the use of force is the subject of an Internal Affairs Investigation.
“Get off of me, get off of me!” Dailene Rosario yelled around 10 p.m. Friday as cops grabbed her in the hallway outside her apartment. “I’m pregnant! I’m pregnant!”
Cops were called to the Wakefield apartment on an unrelated call reporting someone having an asthma attack. Patrol officers assigned to the 47th Precinct came across a fight on the fourth floor involving two men. There were about 15 onlookers.
The uniformed officers called for backup and about 10 other cops responded. Cops were trying to pull the girl’s arms behind her back, the video first posted by WorldstarHip.Hop.com shows. She screamed and the officers dragged her to the floor.
Bronx man who died from police Taser honored at funeral
Dailene Rosario, 17, screamed in pain Friday as an NYPD sergeant zapped her with a Taser outside her Bronx apartment.
(Facebook)
A plainclothes sergeant wearing a New York Jets hat used the X26 stun gun on her, the video shows. The Taser darts left her with 2-inch-wide burn marks on the right side of her body.
“It’s like your whole side is on fire and you’re being stabbed at the same time,” Rosario told the Daily News on Tuesday. “The hook was embedded into my skin so they had to cut it to take both the Tasers (barbs) out.”
Rosario said she had told the cops she was with child.
The NYPD is reviewing the incident.
(Photography is Not a Crime)
“I was screaming I was pregnant. The female officers, when they first came up, my sister told them I was pregnant,” the teen said.
EXCLUSIVE: Muggers say 'sorry' to man as they use Taser on him
Rosario said she’s 14 weeks pregnant, with a girl, and that a doctor assured her the baby is fine.
“I could have lost my baby due to the Taser, anything could have happened,” she said.
Witness Danielle Lopez, 33, said the cops should have known Rosario was pregnant.
“She’s four months pregnant. She has a belly. You can tell. I was disgusted,” Lopez said.
The NYPD Patrol Guide advises cops not to use stun guns on “children, the elderly, obviously pregnant females and the frail” except in extreme situations.
Facebook post by Dailene Rosario concerning her baby's funeral.
(Facebook)
Rosario said she first emerged from her apartment because her boyfriend and brother were fighting in the hallway over a video game, but went back inside.
She said two female officers knocked on her door, trying to get inside because of a report — false, she said — that she and her sister were fist-fighting.
(Sam Costanza for New York Daily News)
(Sam Costanza for New York Daily News)
Taser victim Dailene Rosario,17, shows where she was tasered by police. This picture was made in front of her Bronx apartment on Tuesday.
A male officer cuffed her, she said, and she was pulled into the crowd of cops. “And then somebody was pinching me, and I ended up getting Tased,” she said.
Police said the confrontation began when Rosario pushed a cop.
According to court papers, Police Officer Taralena Gerrato said Rosario screamed, “I don’t want to talk to you!”
Facebook post by Dailene Rosario concerning her baby's funeral.
(Facebook)
Gerrato said Rosario pushed her into a door frame. When other cops tried to arrest her, she flailed her arms, threw herself to the floor and sat on her hands and refused to be handcuffed.
“Yo, why are you cuffing me!” she yelled, according to police. “I didn’t do anything.”
Internal Affairs investigators interviewed witnesses Tuesday night. No one has been disciplined. Gerrato declined comment Monday night.
In the video, the wires extending from the Taser into her body are visible.
(seanfboggs/Getty Images/iStockphoto)
Rosario spent the night in custody and was arraigned Saturday on resisting arrest and disorderly conduct charges and released, records show.
A review of Rosario’s Facebook revealed a tragic twist; this isn’t the first time she has been pregnant. The teen gave birth to a 5-pound, 13-ounce girl on Sept. 15. The child, named Haileey, did not survive the traumatic delivery. Rosario suffered a ruptured placenta caused by preeclampsia.
Ed Mullins, head of the sergeants union, said he saw no wrongdoing.
(New York Daily News)
“I can tell you that from what I’ve seen, I really don’t see any issue with using the stun gun,” he said. “She’s failing to comply with arrest. I mean, how do you know somebody is pregnant unless they absolutely look pregnant?”
The incident comes as the NYPD has expanded its use of Tasers from 160 in 2006 to more than 1,700. Each precinct is now equipped with about a dozen stun guns. The NYPD’s goal is to have at least one sergeant per tour trained to use the devices.
Initially, Tasers were only issued to Emergency Service Unit sergeants, but the expansion now includes precinct and plainclothes sergeants and some police officers, an NYPD official said.