Jan. 04--Trying to allay rumors of brutality or officer misconduct, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police on Tuesday showed reporters the brutal video of 18-year-old Tanisha Williams trying to strangle herself with a seatbelt in the back seat of a patrol car.
Williams reacted violently after she was arrested and accused of stealing a $14 shirt from the Citi Trends store on Freedom Drive on Dec. 5. Now she is essentially brain dead, an attorney for her family said, and not expected to improve.
Her family is considering suing the police department and the city, claiming officers should have prevented Williams from hurting herself. Williams' case raises questions about what officers should do to ensure the well-being of a combative suspect in their custody.
The three officers involved returned to duty. An internal investigation and an investigation by homicide detectives are being conducted.
"It certainly appears that those officers didn't violate policy," said Maj. Vicki Foster.
William Harding, an attorney for Williams' family, said the officers should not have left her alone, as the video suggests they did for several moments.
"They should have restrained her or kept an eye on her," Harding told the Observer on Tuesday. "They're responsible for her well-being, even if she's a danger to herself."
After Williams was arrested last month, one of the officers turned the cruiser's dashboard camera around to face her seat. Moments later, the handcuffed woman is brought into the Chevrolet Impala police cruiser, screaming hysterically.
"I didn't do anything," she yells, cursing. "I did not steal no shirt."
In the video, she bangs her head on the side window. Then, she violently bangs her head and shoulder on the Plexiglas divider. A small crack in the divider grows larger as she repeatedly strikes her head against it, shaking the camera.
Maj. Andy Leonard told reporters that officers determined that they needed to restrain Williams, so they went to another officer's car to get a restraining device.
Then Williams turns and, using her head, wraps a seatbelt around her neck three times. She slumps into the seat.
At that point, the officers returned with the restraint device, but Leonard said they determined Williams was no longer a danger to herself because she wasn't banging her head anymore.
The officers, apparently unaware of the seatbelt around her neck, continue to talk to her at varying points, asking her to give them her name. The video shows them checking on her at several points during the next few minutes. "If you don't give us your name, we'll still take you to jail," one says. An officer also comments that he can see her breathing. Later, an officer opens the door and shines a flashlight on Williams, though her long hair obscures the seatbelt looped around her neck.
In all, about six minutes elapse from the time Williams wraps the seatbelt around her neck to the moment officers cut her seatbelt off with a knife.
Harding said Williams hadn't ingested drugs or alcohol, and that he wasn't aware of a history of mental instability. Harding has been arrested four times in the last two years, including once for larceny, according to county jail records. All of those charges had been dismissed.
Foster defended the officers' actions, saying police don't immediately intervene simply because someone is banging their head. She said that could escalate a situation to a point where an officer has to use additional force.
"It's not an automatic thing that we do," Foster said. "If we open the door for everyone that bangs their head, we're going to fight every single time."
In the police department's directives manual, the rules for observing people who are being taken to jail are written in red type: "Visual observation of prisoners must be maintained by the transporting officers at all times, except during certain medical examinations that require privacy. Under no circumstance will a prisoner in custody be left unattended in a transport vehicle or other."
Williams' family hasn't seen the video, though their attorney has. Harding said he is petitioning the police department to allow the family to view the video.
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