A federal lawsuit claims Rainbow City police officers tased a teenage girl, twice, while she was suffering grand mal seizures and tased her mother.
The lawsuit, filed July 9, also says Gadsden police officers stood by and failed to intervene.
The lawsuit was filed by the mother, Michelle Lee Helm, on her behalf and that of her 16-year-old daughter, identified in the lawsuit by the initials T.D.H.
Also named as defendant was the concert venue, Center Stages of Rainbow City.
It concerns a January 16, 2015 incident that took place during a rap concert, in which the artist left the stage and joined the crowd. The suit alleges that set off a stampede that knocked the girl to the floor. The suit states the girl, who also suffered a seizure earlier that day at Southside High School, went into a grand mal seizure, the result of stress and fear of being trampled.
Instead of seeking medical help, the suit alleges a Center Stage employee threw her over his shoulder and “unceremoniously dumped” the girl into the lobby floor.
The girl’s sister called their mother, who came into the lobby to render aid. As five police officers restrained the girl, one officer “body checked” the woman and held her in a restained position, faced down with hands behind her back. That officer then instructed another officer, twice, to tase the woman, which the officer did.
The girl was tased twice, according to the suit, once while being restrained by an officer.
As the girl was being taken to the hospital, Rainbow City police took Helm to jail for disorderly conduct. The lawsuit alleges Helm’s charges were false and an attempt to cover for the officers’ illegal actions.
The suit says the girl was bound and gagged when she was taken to the hospital and that Rainbow City and Gadsden officers made jokes about her mother’s arrest and threatened to send the girl to a mental facility. The officers then left her at the hospital and she was eventually released to a complete stranger.
The suit says the girl still suffers panic attacks and nightmares as a result of the incident.
The lawsuit seeks punitive damages, medical and other compensatory damages, and an injunction for the Gadsden and Rainbow City Police Departments to provide proper training and supervision of their officers.
The suit names the following defendants: Rainbow City Police Chief Greg Carroll, police officers James Fazakas, George Morris and Justin Gilliland, three more unnamed Rainbow City officers, three unnamed Gadsden officers, and the municipalities of Gadsden and Rainbow City.
All of the officers were apparently employed that night in off-duty security positions at Center Stage.
Gadsden city attorney Lee Roberts said he checked with the police department, and from what he found, Gadsden officers were apparently not involved in the incident. Jim Turnbach, the city attorney for Rainbow City, did not immediately return our call for comment.
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