Brooke Fantelli, 43, of Ramona, CA went to the desert to take some photos one day late last month.
She was approached by a BLM ranger and an Imperial County sheriff's deputy who had weapons drawn. She raised her arms.
A cell phone video captured after that. [Note: I don't see any code to allow me to display the video here or to increase the size of the video screen.]
The first accusation that was made was that the group of people Fantelli was with were taking nude pictures in the desert. She denied that this was so and the ranger asked for everyone's ID.
Ms. Fantelli's ID still lists her as a man. When the ranger saw that, his attitude changed.
"He actually looked me straight in the eye and says, 'You used to be a guy,' and I said, 'Yes, I did.' There was no way around it. I could see it in his eyes. He wanted to do that," she said of being stunned by the Taser.
She was ordered to lie on the ground with her face in the dirt. She did not do so.
I'm obviously not threatening him. My hands are well in the air. I've got plenty of money invested in myself in the area of $65,000 worth of plastic surgery, braces and other things that are important to me.
--Brooke Fantelli
They arrested Ms. Fantelli for being publicly intoxicated. Ms. Fantelli admits to having had a few beers over the course of the day, but denies being drunk.
She said after being stunned, the ranger switched from referring to her as "ma'am" and "miss" to "sir" and "dude."
Video showed that while Fantelli was on the ground with the ranger holding her down and an Imperial County sheriff's deputy helping, the ranger used his Taser on her again, this time in her genitalia. On the video, the ranger is heard telling her to release her wrist. But Fantelli said she instinctively protects her left wrist because it's been broken many times.
"I thought the video was disturbing," said Kevin Keenan, executive director of the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties.
Keenan told 10News the use of a Taser in this situation was inappropriate, at best.
"She was stating her objection to the action but not in any way resisting arrest. They could've done other things before needing to use a Taser for sure," Keenan said.
