# Brain-injured Woman Alleges Mistreatment During Traffic Stop



## Andy0921 (Jan 12, 2006)

*Waterford* - A Bozrah woman who says she was assaulted and stunned by a Taser during a routine traffic stop in September has filed a complaint with the Waterford Police Department and a notice of intent to sue a police officer 
In her Oct. 22 complaint, 46-year-old Debra G. Odom, a swing-dancing instructor from Bozrah, alleges that Officer Gilbert Maffeo refused to look at a card related to her medical condition, a brain injury, which she attempted three times to hand him. 
In Maffeo's written arrest report from the incident, he says Odom refused to hand over her license, registration and insurance card and would not get out of the vehicle, grasped onto the steering wheel and door frame and screamed that he was "raping her." 
Chief of Police Murray Pendleton did not comment on the complaint except to say the incident is under investigation. 
The card Odom says she tried to hand to the officer explains the symptoms of a person with a brain injury. 
"The purpose of this card is to tell you some of the symptoms of a brain injury so that you will understand, if necessary, that I am not being intentionally difficult or hard to get along with," the card reads in part. "I am _not mentally ill_, I am a brain injury survivor." 
According to the Web site of the Florida-based Perspectives Network, which issues the card, the card is intended as a "tool" for brain-injury survivors dealing with police as many of the symptoms of brain injury can appear similar to that of intoxication - including lack of muscle control or coordination, memory loss and "excessive physical reactions to confrontation." 
The card is not technically a "medical card" and does not require a doctor's note. 
Odom said her brain injury is the result of a June 2004 auto accident in Chester. 
Photographs taken of Odom the day after the incident in Waterford in September show bruises to her inner thigh and covering the length of one tricep. Burn marks said to be from the Taser stun gun are photographed next to a dollar bill, showing a slightly smaller-than-dime-sized hole in her thigh. 
Medical documents from The William W. Backus Hospital in Norwich following the incident describe her condition as multiple contusions and closed head injury as the result of an assault. 
"Officer Maffeo was following too close, ignored my notification of disability, did not identify himself, injured me, assaulted me, abused his authority in the process of arresting me, used excessive force, destroyed personal property, did not call for back up until after he pull (sic) me out of the car, lied about the facts and circumstances to cover up his actions, that I was arrested at all," Odom writes in her complaint. 
Odom was charged Sept. 22 with assault on an officer, possession of a weapon in a motor vehicle, interfering with police, speeding and making an improper turn. In court on Dec. 18, the prosecutor agreed to drop the case with a right to reopen if Odom gets into trouble any time in the next 13 months. 
••••• 
According to Maffeo's arrest report, he was traveling south on Route 32 in Quaker Hill when he saw a red Subaru Legacy changing lanes without a turn signal. Maffeo said he pulled behind the vehicle, which Odom was driving, and followed it for approximately a quarter of a mile as she drove 15 miles per hour over the posted speed limit. 
Maffeo said he then turned on his emergency lights, and a little while later Odom pulled over onto Uncas Avenue. When he approached the car, Maffeo said, Odom was holding her hands in front of her rearview mirror in an attempt to block out his spotlight. 
"Odom then told me that she had a brain injury and that the light could cause her to have a seizure. I then explained to Odom that once I had her license, registration, insurance card and I deemed it safe, then I would turn off my spotlight," he wrote in his report. 
According to Maffeo, he noticed a wooden "billy club" in the vehicle and asked her to get out of the car. 
"I continually ordered Odom to stop resisting and to exit her vehicle, but she refused to comply. I then contacted dispatch and asked for additional units to assist me. Odom began screaming that I was 'raping her' and then tried to put her car in drive ... Odom stated that she was scared because she thought I was trying to hurt her." 
Throughout the incident, Odom tried to get Maffeo to speak to her mother, who had called on her cell phone during the traffic stop, according to both Odom and Maffeo. The officer said he reached into her vehicle, turned off the ignition and then "removed the cell phone" from her hand after he said Odom struck him in the face and knocked his glasses off. Odom says Maffeo violently smashed her cell phone, breaking it in half. 
"I told him, 'You really need to stop yelling at me because I can't handle a lot of brain stimuli,' " Odom said. 
Maffeo said he tried pulling Odom out of the vehicle, and when she continued to hold on, he first threatened to spray her with pepper spray, and after Odom asked him not to because of her asthma, he told her he would use the Taser on her. 
"After the Taser was deployed, Odom did not hang on to her steering wheel or doorframe and was able to be removed from the vehicle," he said. 
In her complaint, Odom accused Maffeo of using the stun weapon on her three times. 
"For five seconds I watched little red worms go all over my body and every single muscle in my body have a Charlie horse. I felt my heartbeat stop for five seconds," Odom said Thursday. 
Maffeo said he handcuffed Odom as she was on her knees, then waited for backup to arrive. 
Maffeo said the billy club turned out to be an 18-inch hickory "tire knocker," which he seized along with a box-cutter and a can of pepper spray. 
"None of this would have ever happened if he would have listened to me about my brain injury or simply read the card I provided him," Odom wrote in her complaint. 
•••••It's Thursday night at Lawrence & Memorial Hospital, and a handful of brain-injury survivors have gathered for their monthly support group - one of 19 such support groups co-sponsored by the Brain Injury Association of Connecticut. 
Members are discussing how they can prevent another incident like Odom's arrest in September, and Odom has asked retired New Jersey police officer Israel Rosado to speak to the group. 
"I'm sure in the beginning, before my time, the diabetic people were considered drunks because we weren't educated, we didn't know about it," Rosado tells the group, encouraging members to reach out to local law enforcement agencies to educate them about brain injuries and the rights and symptoms of brain-injury survivors. 
A young man with a brain injury types into a talk-and-type laptop: "I don't feel like a person. I feel detached from humanity," the robotic voice announces from a computer in front of his wheelchair. 
"I don't look disabled," Odom told Rosado. "But I am." 
Odom was injured when she was a passenger in a car that went under a tractor-trailer, shearing the top off the vehicle and smashing her head between the roof and the belly of the tractor-trailer. Odom said she was in and out of consciousness at the hospital for four days after the accident. 
Every brain injury is different, according to information from BIAC, and while a person with a brain injury could experience physical disability, emotional and behavioral impairment and difficulty with memory or concentration, not every brain injury survivor's symptoms are the same. 
In Odom's case, she says, she has difficulty with memory and is prone to seizures and emotional or erratic behavior. 
May Terry, executive director of the Disabilities Network of Eastern Connecticut in Norwich, said Odom's right to drive has not been taken away from her for the same reasons it isn't taken away from people experiencing other medical conditions. 
"If a person with epilepsy who has a seizure is not allowed to drive for six months, once their medication is stabilized and they're back on track, they can drive again," she said. "... She does not have a history of doing anything aggressive with her car per se, like road rage or anything like that. 
"The right to drive is so important in this culture." 
Terry said the cards, which are handed out through the BIAC, are important not only for communication with the police, but also for emergency workers who may find a brain-injured patient unconscious and need to know their medical history. 
•••••The Connecticut Police Chiefs Association established a precedent for dealing with a least one disability - hearing impairment - when, in September 2005, it rolled out the "visor alert program" in response to a survey that revealed that one out of seven persons in the state is hearing-impaired. 
The large, bright green envelopes, labeled "Important Papers," instruct drivers about what to do in the event they are pulled over while also alerting the officer to the driver's hearing impairment. 
The envelope goes above the driver's-side visor. The instructions tell drivers to place their hands on the steering wheel, point to their ears, shake their head "no" and put their driver's license in the envelope for the police officer. 
Pendleton, the Waterford chief, was on the committee that approved the program, which was sponsored by the Connecticut Police Chiefs Association, the state Department of Motor Vehicles and the state Commission on the Deaf and Hearing Impaired. 
Members of the brain-injury support group asked Rosado Thursday if it would be possible to alert police to other disabilities, either through a symbol on a driver's license or through some other means. 
"If you are an organ donor, there is a heart on your license. If you are disabled, can you get a handicapped symbol on your license?" one of the members asked, typing through his laptop. 
Rosado said that while he did not know the facts and circumstances related to Odom's arrest, he said as a retired police officer he understood how an officer might not look at a card like Odom's without first knowing he was safe. 
"I'm not going to divert my attention from you who could possibly kill me," he said. 
A source within the department confirmed Friday that Maffeo has been out on leave since the incident, from injuries sustained in the incident with Odom. Maffeo said Friday he did not wish to comment. The police union is currently defending Maffeo for a reprimand he received from Pendleton in May for pulling his gun during a February traffic stop. Detective Ed DeLaura, president of the local police union, said the union's request for a grievance is still pending with the state arbitration board. He said the union could not comment on pending investigations and complaints.


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