Dekalb County Officer Kicks 9 Month Pregnant Black Woman: Caused C-Section

From [HERE] A DeKalb County (Georgia) police officer has come under fire for kicking a pregnant woman so hard she was forced to have an emergency C-section. Raven Dozier said that when officer Jerad Wheeler came to her house to quell her brother's dispute with her mother, Wheeler used a Taser on him.

She cried out and Wheeler pounced, kicking the nine-month pregnant woman in the stomach and charging her with obstruction. Her baby Levi was born after emergency surgery and now she's demanding that Wheeler pay for his 'brutal' use of force. 'I couldn't believe an officer would kick me, with my child in my stomach,' Mrs Dozier told WSBTV.

She said that she was trying to help calm her brother down after officers were called to their home and her brother was arguing with them. Officers shot her brother with a stun gun and she cried out, causing officer Wheeler to give her a 'front push-kick to the abdomen,' according to his official report.

He said that he couldn't tell she was pregnant because it was dark and she was wearing loose clothing. Wheeler justified his actions further by saying he used an officially sanctioned move he was 'taught to do at the academy.'

'What kind of a human being kicks a pregnant woman? I mean, forget whether or not it is a police officer that is supposedly protecting people,' Mrs Dozier's attorney Mark Bullman said to WSBTV.

Wheeler dragged the injured pregnant woman to jail, but the guards refused to book her for obstruction, seeing her protruding stomach.

Mrs Dozier filed a complaint with the police department, but it was never investigated, according to WSBTV, and several supervisors signed off on Wheeler's behavior.

But WSBTV uncovered this incident was just the latest in which Wheeler used force against bystanders.

In September 2011, a 53-year-old woman said Wheeler assaulted her at the scene of her daughter's car accident, where she had gone to help with her young grandchildren.

The woman said Wheeler twisted her arm behind her back and pushed her face down in the patrol car, but he was exonerated.

In January of this year, another family complained after Wheeler responded to the wrong address and shot their dog - while it was leashed inside their garage. 

'It's showing that there is an ongoing pattern and practice of attempting to clear officers of clearly illegal, unconstitutional, and improper conduct,' Mr Bullman said. 

Wheeler has been a police officer since 2008, and according to his Facebook, he is a combat aficionado.

Two weeks after the incident with Wheeler, doctors had to perform an emergency C-section because they found that the baby had defecated inside the womb.

'Something should be done. Men go to jail every day for hitting women and it's not OK just because he is a police officer,' Mrs Dozier said.

The DeKalb County police department declined to comment on the case but told WSBTV an investigation has been opened.