Lexington woman was tased by deputy while driving child to school. She’s suing
A Lexington woman is suing two law enforcement agencies after she says she was dragged from her vehicle and tased three times after dropping her child off at school.
Shantya Davis filed a lawsuit at the federal courthouse in Columbia this past week. She is seeking damages from the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department, the S.C. State Law Enforcement Division and a sheriff’s deputy and SLED agent.
Davis, represented by attorney Ryan Andrews of Charleston, says in her lawsuit that she was unjustifiably assaulted by law enforcement after she dropped off her child at Pleasant Hill Elementary School in Lexington on April 17, 2024.
As was her “routine practice,” Davis said she pulled into a handicapped parking space in the school parking lot to allow her student to disembark right in front of the school building, the lawsuit said. Davis said she had consistently done this throughout the school year and had never heard a complaint from the school administration about her brief stop in the handicapped space.
On April 15, Davis said she was confronted in the parking lot by William Norris, a SLED agent who had volunteered at Pleasant Hill as a morning crossing guard. Norris, whom the mother assumed to be an “angry parent,” challenged Davis’ right to use the space, and after a brief exchange, she drove away.
Two days later, when Davis again pulled into the space, Norris allegedly sent a photo of her car in the handicapped space to Michael Medlin, a Lexington County sheriff’s deputy, the lawsuit claims. Medlin then initiated a traffic stop on Davis after she left the school and pulled onto Rawl Road.
“Upon making contact with Ms. Davis, Defendant Medlin falsely informed her that he had personally witnessed her park in a handicapped parking space at PHES,” the suit claims “Ms. Davis, who had observed Defendant Medlin driving on Rawl Road in the opposite direction before he turned around, perceived that Defendant Medlin could not have personally witnessed her in the handicapped space, and rightfully believed Defendant Medlin was conducting an illegal traffic stop.”
Davis did not turn over her driver’s license to Medlin and instead called 911 on her cell phone attempting to reach his supervisor. Medline then opened Davis’s driver’s-side car door while she was on the phone and deployed his taser on Davis three times, the lawsuit claims. Davis’ daughter, who was en route to another Lexington school, was in the car and witnessed her mother being tased, the lawsuit says.
Norris then arrived at the scene and assisted Medlin in removing Davis from the car and placing her under arrest, the suit says. She was transported by ambulance to Lexington Medical Center for treatment before being taken to the Lexington County Detention Center.
Davis was charged with parking in a handicapped parking space, failure to produce a driver’s license, and resisting arrest. The charge of resisting arrest was dropped before the case was brought to trial in magistrate’s court. A jury acquitted Davis of the parking violation and she was fined $155 for not turning her license over to Medlin during the traffic stop.
As a result of being tased, Davis suffered an injury to her left forearm, carpopedal spasms in her hand, and an acute stress reaction requiring emergency medical treatment. She also incurred medical expenses, physical pain and suffering, and severe emotional distress and mental anguish.
“The actions of Defendants Medlin and Norris as described herein were undertaken under color of state law, were willful and wanton, and demonstrated a reckless or callous indifference to Ms. Davis’ clearly established constitutional rights,” the lawsuit claims.
Davis is requesting damages to be determined by a jury at trial.
A spokesperson for the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department told The State the department policy is not to comment on pending litigation. A spokesperson for SLED said the agency had not yet been served a copy of the lawsuit as of Friday afternoon.
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