Tasered woman guilty in Henrico

A Richmond woman who accused Henrico County police of abusing her during an arrest was convicted yesterday of multiple charges linked to the incident.

A Henrico judge, pointedly referring to a prior conviction in Richmond for resisting arrest, sentenced Deontra C. Johnson to one month in jail yesterday in connection with a traffic stop that ended with Johnson being repeatedly Tasered by a Henrico police officer.

"It's clear as a bell there was obstruction of justice," said General District Judge L. Neil Steverson, after an hourlong hearing in which the appropriateness of the Taser's use was not addressed.

Johnson's lawyer, William Janis, immediately appealed the conviction to Henrico Circuit Court, and Johnson was released on bond.

Johnson, of the 2700 block of Seminary Avenue, and others appeared Oct. 14 at a news conference with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to allege police brutality directed at black women in the Richmond area.

Internal investigations cleared Chesterfield officers in an alleged abuse case in that county. In Henrico, an internal investigation is continuing into the Johnson incident.

Efforts to reach the NAACP for comment yesterday were unsuccessful.

In court yesterday, Johnson said she was Tasered four times by Henrico police officer S.M. Broomell after he stopped her for running a red light Sept. 26 at Lakeside Avenue and Hilliard Road.

The incident began about 9:30 p.m.

But Broomell yesterday described a drawn-out effort to bring Johnson to a stop.

Johnson, traveling the speed limit, disregarded Broomell's flashing blue lights, spotlight and eventual siren as her vehicle proceeded for almost a mile, Broomell said, making two right turns and pulling into a parking space near some apartments.

Johnson testified she saw the lights but assumed they were for someone else and did not hear the siren.

Broomell said Johnson kept questioning why she had been stopped and refused to exit the car despite 12 requests to do so.

When the door finally opened, he said, Johnson still would not leave the vehicle, he said, and he took her arm and wrist to force her removal.

As she stood by his patrol car and continued to struggle, Broomell said he twice Tasered the woman and after getting her to the ground Tasered her twice more as she kept her hands from being cuffed.

Broomell smelled a faint odor of alcohol, he said, but Johnson refused to engage in field sobriety tests or take a Breathalyzer test.

Janis argued that Broomell had not made it clear what Johnson was being charged with and said a Miranda warning was not properly obtained.

"Here was a single woman traveling alone down a dark street," Janis said.

"I didn't think he was pulling me over," she testified.

Steverson found Johnson guilty of obstruction of justice, running a red light, eluding police and refusing to submit to a breath test. He tossed out a drunken-driving charge.

Steverson ordered Johnson's license suspended for 12 months, fined her $100 for the red-light offense, fined her $50 for eluding police and sentenced her to six months in jail with five months suspended for obstruction.
Contact Bill McKelway at (804) 649-6601 or .