Transgender Woman Claims Excessive Force In Taser Incident


Brooke Fantelli Of Ramona Says Ranger Unnecessarily Stunned Her With Taser

POSTED: 7:20 pm PST November 17, 2011 | UPDATED: 8:10 pm PST November 17, 2011

http://www.10news.com/news/29800437/detail.html


SAN DIEGO -- A transgender woman from Ramona was stunned by a stun gun used by a Bureau of Land Management ranger in the desert near El Centro late last month.

Angry over the incident, 43-year-old Brooke Fantelli contacted 10News and said what started out as a nice day of picture-taking in the desert ended in a nightmare.

"There's no way to put it, it's just plain out brutal, plain out brutal," said Fantelli.

In cell phone video Fantelli provided to 10News, Fantelli's hands are in the air as a BLM ranger tells her to lie down in the dirt. She told 10News she refused to do that, but did tell the ranger she would not resist being arrested. The ranger went ahead and used his Taser on her anyway. In the video, Fantelli is seen falling to the ground.

What even is a Bureau of Land Management ranger?  Like a park ranger/wildlife and fisheries agent?  Oh yes, you know those dangerous amateur photographers.  An unarmed woman being tasered without even having resisted physically?  Do I believe this would have happened to a cisgender female?  Hell no.

Wow.

That's just disgusting.

I've got nothing else to add.

Just sick.

Quote from: Kreuzfidel on November 18, 2011, 01:25:24 AM
What even is a Bureau of Land Management ranger?  Like a park ranger/wildlife and fisheries agent?  Oh yes, you know those dangerous amateur photographers.  An unarmed woman being tasered without even having resisted physically?  Do I believe this would have happened to a cisgender female?  Hell no.

Good question...The BLM or Bureau of Land  Management, a Federal agency, is part of the Dept. of the Interior.
The Bureau of Land Management administers 264 million acres of public lands, located primarily in the 12 Western States, containing natural, historical, cultural, .... http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en.html

Hopefully this is not the last we will hear of this incident...and by the way...


EEO Policy Statement

The United States Government does not discriminate in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, disability and genetic information, age, membership in an employee organization, or other non-merit factor.   EEO Policy Statement  http://www.usajobs.gov/

What about making arrests?

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Ranger's crotch tazing of trans woman caught on video

Posted by LGBT Weekly Latest Issue, Top Highlights, Trans Progressive Saturday, December 3rd, 2011

Commentary: Trans Progressive

by Autumn Sandeen


http://lgbtweekly.com/2011/12/03/rangers-crotch-tazing-of-trans-woman-caught-on-video/


I'm aware that attitudes in society, and even in the LGBT community, about trans women are often negative and sometimes hostile. As a trans woman, the idea of being arrested is a scary thought because I know those negative and hostile attitudes are at least as commonplace in police officers as they are in broader society.

When I went to jail over the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT) back in March 2010, I had one park police officer refer to me as an "impersonator," and a federal marshal refer to me as an "it" and a "shim." I felt somewhat fortunate to not have been physically or sexually abused after handcuffing myself to the White House fence, even though I knew that by getting arrested in that direct action I might have been.

I think it's inexcusable for the federal rangers to behave in such a manor and they should be held accountable for their abusive behavior

snip from article

Standing, hands up in the air with no visible resistance to arrest, Ranger Petter tazed Brooke in the abdomen. At slightly more than 50 seconds into the video, the ranger tazed her a second time – this time in the crotch.

Brooke Fantelli, California Transgender Woman, Allegedly Tased In The Crotch By Imperial County Desert Rangers (VIDEO)

First Posted: 12/ 5/11 03:15 PM ET Updated: 12/ 5/11 03:39 PM ET

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/05/brooke-fantelli-california-transgender-woman-tased_n_1128725.html

A California transgender woman is reportedly planning a civil lawsuit after allegedly being tased in the abdomen and in the genital area by officials.

As LGBT Weekly is reporting, Brooke Fantelli, who is apparently a well-known figure in the off-road racing community, was allegedly stopped by a ranger while in the midst of a photo shoot in the Imperial County desert.

Though the 43-year-old Fantelli had been living as a woman for some time, she had been told by her physician that she needed to live two full years as a female before she could change her California identification. Only when the ranger saw Brooke's identification card did the hostile interaction begin, according to the report.

I hope she sues the legs off the police.

Court hearing set for transgender person tased by BLM ranger

By SILVIO J. PANTA Staff Writer
1:58 a.m. PST, December 9, 2011

http://www.ivpressonline.com/news/ivp-court-hearing-set-for-transgender-person-tased-by-blm-ranger-20111209,0,7600310.story

A court hearing has been set for a San Diego County transgender woman who claims a Bureau of Land Management ranger Tasered her during an incident in Ocotillo Wells.

Tuesday's hearing in jail court for Brooke Fantelli of Ramona follows her arrest Oct. 22 on suspicion of public drunkenness, resisting arrest and making terrorist threats, allegations which Fantelli's Orange County-based attorney Dana Douglas said Thursday are unfounded.

Douglas alleges her client had been victimized because she is a transgender person, a claim Douglas said was reflected by a BLM ranger's change in demeanor when he learned Fantelli had been a man and his references to Fantelli as "dude" and "it" during the arrest.