MIDDLETOWN, Connecticut - June 14, 2011 - The mother of a teenager who was allegedly stunned with a Taser in the Middletown High School cafeteria last fall is suing the city on her son’s behalf.
Tanya Jackson filed a lawsuit in federal court last month against the city of Middletown, the city’s police department, its school system, and five police officers, three of whom are unnamed. Jackson filed the lawsuit on behalf of her two minor children, whose names were withheld from the lawsuit, although the teen who was tasered has previously been publicly identified as Zahrod Jackson.
The Jacksons' lawyer, Josephine Miller, alleges that police violated Zahrod Jackson’s civil rights under the U.S. Constitution, by stopping him without reasonable suspicion, using “unreasonable, unjustified and excessive force upon him,” and using “cruel and unusual punishment.”
Zahrod Jackson, who was 17 at the time, allegedly tried to take a Jamaican beef patty from the high school cafeteria on September 3 last year. After taking the patty, he and a cafeteria worker began arguing, attracting attention from the two school resource officers.
Jackson was eligible to receive free lunch from the school, and already had a slice of pizza on his tray when he noticed that another student receiving free lunch had pizza and a beef patty, Miller said. Jackson went back to the cafeteria line to take a patty, but a cafeteria worker began loudly berating him for taking it, the lawsuit says. The school employee allegedly accused Jackson of being a thief even after he put the patty back.
Miller said the cafeteria worker’s response to Jackson was uncharacteristic and outlawed by the school rules. Normally, Miller said, students caught stealing food are addressed by school administrators in their offices.
Miller said Jackson and the cafeteria employee screamed at each other, and as she “continued to loudly berate and accuse Z.J. she drew the attention of school resources officers on duty.”
Miller alleges that one of the school’s resource officers, Kurt Scrivo, threw Jackson onto the cafeteria floor, and the other resource officer, Alex Rodriguez, used his Taser against him five times.
“Z.J. did not in fact or in deed pose a threat of harm to anyone and did not in any manner engage in violent behavior,” Miller wrote. “Notwithstanding, without further warning, Office Scrivo then placed his hands upon Z.J. and violently threw him backwards onto the cafeteria floor.”
Miller does not specify in the lawsuit how the officer used the Taser. In the wake of the event, Middletown police insisted that the officer had “drive stunned” Jackson, by holding the Taser against his body and shocking him, rather than shooting him with the Taser’s metal projectiles. Drive stunning aims to cause pain without completely incapacitating the victim.
