SEATTLE – A former Microsoft worker, hit with a stun gun last summer by a Redmond police officer who thought she was drunk, is suing over the incident, saying she was in diabetic shock when she was shot with 50,000 volts of electricity.
“I was so out of it. There was no way I could’ve been a threat to anyone,” said Leila Fuchs, 32, who underwent a kidney transplant seven years ago.
In his own report of the July 10 incident, Redmond Police Lt. Charlie Gorman said Fuchs sat silently in her car while he smashed the passenger-side window and shot her with the stun gun because she refused to unlock her door.
The lawsuit filed Friday in King County Superior Court by her attorney, James Egan, names Gorman, two other officers, Redmond Police Chief Steve Harris and the city of Redmond.
The lawsuit seeks $1 million in damages for excessive force and negligence.
In his report on the incident, which followed a fender-bender, Gorman said officers could smell alcohol inside Fuchs’ car, though the doors were locked and the windows rolled up.
Gorman said he identified himself and ordered Fuchs to unlock her door. She failed to respond and sat staring straight ahead.
After issuing a warning, the lieutenant broke the car’s passenger-side window, unlocked the passenger-side door and again ordered Fuchs to unlock the driver-side door. Fuchs just stared at him, he said.
“I produced my X-26 Taser and told her that if she did not comply with my order to unlock her door that I was going to use my Taser on her,” Gorman wrote in his report.
“She looked away from me without responding and stared straight ahead. I shouted the Taser warning and deployed my Taser from a distance of five feet. The female reacted by screaming and stiffening her body.”
The lawsuit says Gorman then forced Fuchs to the ground and placed her in handcuffs.
Minutes later, a follow-up police report says, fire department personnel examined Fuchs at the scene and determined her blood-sugar level was at 44, well below the normal range of 80 to 120. They offered her 15 grams of glucose and two glucose drinks, and Fuchs gradually became coherent.
A breath test shortly after the incident revealed no presence of alcohol, according to Gorman’s police report.
Redmond police spokeswoman Stacey Holland said she could not comment on the case because of the pending litigation.
A Bellevue resident at the time of the incident, Fuchs declined to reveal where she now lives during an interview with the Journal.
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