Stow officials say a report the city agreed to a settlement with Chelsea Garrett on Monday arising from a claim of police brutality she brought against the city in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.
During the mediation process, the city’s insurance carrier made a financial decision to settle the lawsuit for $100,000. In that settlement, there was no finding by the court of liability or wrongdoing on the part of the City of Stow, its police department nor is there an admission of liability or wrongdoing by the city or the police department.
Garrett, a diabetic, is a college student who claimed to be suffering from periodic black outs after leaving the scene of the accident on Nov. 5, 2011 and nearly hitting a Stow police vehicle.
Once pulled over, Garrett proceeded to exit her vehicle and approached the Stow officer. According to the story on fox8.com, Garrett was punched in the chest and tased several times.
“I remember feeling my stomach in my brain and the shaking. I remember starting to say, in a very slow, delayed, which again is what me know my state of mind, ‘what are you doing,’” she told Fox 8. “And then all of the sudden it happened again and again and just that horrible feeling.”
According to the city’s release, some facts were ignored in the most recent television report.
The release states that the day Garrett was taken into custody by the Stow Police Department, she was involved in a hit-skip accident on state Route 8 in Akron. After leaving the scene of that accident without stopping, she drove to Stow and as shown on the police dashboard camera, came within a few feet of striking a Stow police cruiser head on.
Allegedly, Garrett continued driving, refusing to pull over for the cruiser that had its lights and sirens activated. The Police report said when she did pull over, Garrett she exited her car and approached the officer. She came within a foot of the officer, again refusing to comply with his orders, and she was pushed away from the officer. She continued to resist and ignore the officer’s instructions and that is when he deployed his taser. The taser missed and did not activate.
It was reported in the city’s release that Garret fell to the ground, and despite instructions from the officer, began to stand up and that is when the officer applied a drive stun. While the officer was holding her down and waiting for back-up, Garrett again attempted to stand up. At this point a second drive stun was applied.
The Stow Use of Force Committee who found the officer’s actions within policy internally reviewed this matter. The City of Stow stands by the actions of the police department and officer. The City’s insurance carrier, not the City of Stow, negotiated the settlement.
As a part of the insurance settlement Garrett signed a non-disclosure agreement, according the news release.
