Grandmother reading Bible in car gets tased and assaulted by officers, attorney says

A 65-year-old grandmother says she was reading a Bible and writing a sermon inside her car at a Mississippi park before she was violently assaulted by police officers and detained.

Vivian Burks, of Leake County, was tased eight times and thrown down on July 23 by Carthage police officers after they wanted to search her vehicle at a park in the city, about a 55-mile drive northeast from Jackson, according to the Carlos Moore Law Group. “I told them they couldn’t search my car without a warrant,” Burks said in a statement to McClatchy News on July 30. “That’s when they started to hurt me. They hurt my back, head, elbows, stomach, and legs.” The incident stemmed from Burks having an expired vehicle tag, the Carlos Moore Law Group said in a July 29 news release. Burks “was treated with unimaginable brutality while peacefully engaging in her own personal activities,” attorney Carlos Moore said in a statement. “We demand transparency, accountability, and justice,” Moore added. His firm is calling for the Carthage Police Department to release body camera footage.

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/nation-world/national/article290573754.html