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Read the press release here.

Pay $500K To Woman Who Miscarried After Officer Used Stun Gun On Her: Alds.

 A police-issue taser gun.
A police-issue taser gun.
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Wikimedia Commons/Junglecat

CITY HALL — The city should pay a woman who suffered a miscarriage after being shocked with a stun gun three times by a Chicago police officer $500,000, a City Council committee recommended Monday.

The full Council is expected to approve the settlement Wednesday, the latest in a series of large payments approved by aldermen to compensate people injured by Chicago Police Department officers.

The lawsuit, filed by Elaina Turner and her fiance Ulysses Green, alleges Chicago Police Officer Patrick Kelly used a stun gun on Turner three times when Kelly and other officers encountered the couple near their Back of the Yards home during an operation to tow some cars, according to court records.

Turner was six weeks pregnant at the time of the incident in July of 2013, and she miscarried a few weeks later.

The Tribune reported that Kelly, 36, has been the subject of at least 27 investigations into his on- and off-duty conduct during his career.

Kelly is no longer assigned to patrol duties, a city attorney told 14th Ward Ald. Ed Burke, chairman of the finance committee.

Green and Turner were acquitted of all charges in connection with incident. Kelly testified at their trial that he deployed his stun gun because Turner did not follow his orders and then fled. The officer's account of the incident was contradicted by witnesses.

The couple filed a complaint with the Independent Police Review Agency about Kelly's conduct. Although the much-criticized agency, which will be replaced in September, cleared the officer of wrongdoing in connection with the incident in June 2016, the Tribune reported the case has been reopened.

Kelly, who has been found mentally unfit for duty twice, is still on the force. The city has paid $1.2 million to settle lawsuits alleging he committed misconduct, according to the Tribune.

Kelly also has been arrested twice and accused of beating a girlfriend. Investigators have reopened an inquiry into how a childhood friend of the officer was shot near the back of his head with Kelly's service weapon in 2010, according to the Tribune.

Investigators with the U.S. Justice Department found that Chicago police officers routinely deployed stun guns "against people who posed no threat," according to a report released in January.

"Among the most egregious uses of deadly force we reviewed were incidents in which CPD officers shot at suspects who presented no immediate threat," according to the report.

READ THE FULL DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE REPORT HERE

In addition, officers are rarely — if ever — held accountable for stun gun use, according to the report.

Although the police review authority has the power to investigate those incidents, in 2010 it "stopped investigating all but a few of the Taser uses — in particular, those accompanied by a citizen complaint," according to the report.

City officials "created a system in which no one assesses whether Tasers are being used appropriately or effectively," according to the report.

The federal investigation was prompted by the fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald. A dashcam video of his death sparked outrage and widespread protests.

One of the first things Mayor Rahm Emanuel did in response to that outcry was to order all officers to have access to a stun gun and be trained on how to use the weapon, which fires barbs attached by wires to batteries, causing temporary paralysis.

But officers were not properly trained to use the devices in the field, federal investigators found.

"CPD, however, quickly cycled large numbers of officers through poorly designed training," according to the report. "As a result, officers were not effectively taught how or when to use the Taser as a less-lethal force option."

The stun guns used by Chicago officers also can be used by holding them against their targets without firing the projectiles. That ability — which causes pain but does not incapacitate a subject — is frequently abused by officers and should be restricted by Police Department officials, according to the report.

Turner was struck twice by stun gun projectiles and one time directly on her skin, according to court records.