Pittsburgh-area woman decries use of force at Allegheny County Jail

An Allegheny County Jail officer ought to be investigated and possibly terminated for her unnecessary use of a Taser on an incarcerated woman two years ago, a corrections expert has concluded, and attorneys for the woman are pushing for a federal review.

The Abolitionist Law Center, which represents Kimberly Andrews, sent video of the incident and their expert’s report to the U.S. Attorney’s office this week. They obtained the video as part of discovery in a federal lawsuit Andrews filed in 2019 against Warden Orlando Harper and several correctional officers.

“The video speaks for itself; this is an unjustifiable assault from behind on a person who is handcuffed that included the use of a dangerous electro-shock weapon,” wrote attorney Bret Grote. “An abuse of authority of such severity cannot be treated with impunity.”

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s office said she could not comment.

The letter raises questions about other types of force used by the jail, including the restraint chair. After she was Tased three times on May 30, 2019, Andrews was placed, apparently unconscious, into a restraint chair, where she was held for nine hours.

Bradford Hansen, the expert retained by Andrews’ attorneys, has more than 40 years of experience, retiring in 2019 as warden of Tecumseh State Correctional Institution in Nebraska. In his report, Hansen was not only critical of Andrews’ treatment but also of the jail’s overall use of force, its review of those incidents and the policies it has in place governing them.

“ACJ staff need additional training and specific use-of-force policy to address the needs of an ever-changing diverse population,” he wrote in his report. “If not, inmates are the ones who are hurt or abused. The case of Kimberly Andrews is an example of how this abuse can happen.”

A spokeswoman for Allegheny County said neither the warden nor County Executive Rich Fitzgerald could comment because the issue is part of pending litigation.

In their answer to Andrews’ lawsuit, county attorneys wrote that “reasonable and necessary force was used due to Ms. Andrews’ noncompliance and threats against staff.”

A trial in the lawsuit is scheduled for January.

Expert questions use of force

Andrews, 22, of McKeesport has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and borderline personality disorder. She initially was charged with resisting arrest in September 2018 following a fight at Market Square and then separately with theft for taking a man’s watch, cellphone and bank card and withdrawing $240 on it a month later.

Although she initially posted bond, Andrews missed a court hearing and was extradited from Atlanta back to Pittsburgh in January 2019 and held at the jail. From Feb. 8 through June 20, 2019, and again from Sept. 6 to Nov. 18, 2019, Andrews spent more than 130 days in solitary confinement, according to her lawsuit.

During a court hearing, a mental health expert testified that her conditions were exacerbated by the isolation of solitary confinement, leading to repeated suicide attempts.

On the evening of May 30, 2019, Andrews was being returned to the jail following a hospitalization for her second such attempt in nine days.

The video shows Andrews being escorted by two officers, including Sgt. Alyssia Tucker, who is named as a defendant in the lawsuit. The video, which does not have sound, shows Andrews stop and look at the officers, and they speak to each other. Several additional officers then join. Then the video shows Andrews being pushed from behind into an elevator. Her legs were shackled, and her hands were cuffed in front of her. She had no way to break her fall.

Andrews said during an interview with the Tribune-Review that she remembers being pushed and her face hitting the railing on the elevator’s back wall.

“Instantly, I felt a prong being inserted,” she said of being Tased. “And then I was dazed.”

Andrews said that as the electricity flowed through her body, it felt like her teeth would shatter, her brain was “cooking,” and her heart would stop.

After that, Andrews said she sat propped against the elevator wall. Then she was dragged down, she said, and flipped over.

“I was on my stomach, and they were just on top of me, and then they Tased me again.”

The video shows there were nine officers there when the incident in the elevator took place. As Andrews was being held down, another officer ran to get a restraint chair.

The officers lifted Andrews, who appears to be unconscious, into the chair and secured her — leaving her like that for nine hours.

In her report to jail supervisors, Tucker wrote that while being escorted to the housing unit, Andrews “began turning” at them.

“At one point, inmate Andrews was able to break free from (another officer) and pin me against the wall with her back,” Tucker wrote.

She then called for help from other officers in the intake department. When they arrived, two other officers took control of Andrews. But, Tucker continued, “Inmate Andrews resisted the officers and became physically and verbally combative. Due to her aggressive behavior, I pulled my Allegheny County Jail issued Taser to but not utilize at that time (sic).”

Tucker said Andrews yelled obscenities, became aggressive and broke free from the officers. After using the Taser on Andrews, she fell into the elevator, Tucker said.

Tucker wrote that as the officers tried to move Andrews, she again began to resist and tried to kick them. Tucker shocked Andrews a second time, she wrote.

Reports from other officers there that day corroborated Tucker’s version.

But in his expert report, Hansen wrote: “A review of the video does not support the written incident report submitted by Sgt. Tucker.

“Sgt. Tucker stated that she was pinned against the wall in the hallway by Kimberly Andrews. Video does not support this statement.”

He also said that video did not support Tucker’s statement that Andrews broke free from the officers holding her.

“The officers do not seem startled, nor do they try to regain control of Kimberly Andrews,” Hansen wrote. “Sgt. Tucker used her forearm to push Kimberly Andrews into the elevator which caused Kimberly Andrews to fall forward. The use of the Taser at that point was an unnecessary use of force and was used as punishment and retaliation.”

Hansen questioned why the Taser was necessary, given that Andrews was cuffed and that there were so many staff members present to manually subdue her. He said additional force was not needed.

“Kimberly Andrews was squirming and thrashing about, but it was impossible for her to be assaultive since so many staff were now on top of her,” Hansen wrote.

“The video and the report,” he concluded, “should be turned over to local law enforcement for further investigation.”

National statistics

In his letter to the U.S. Attorney’s office, Grote asked that any investigation focus on “systemic instances of excessive use of force that are authorized and enabled by a policy that permits ACJ staff to act with virtually unlimited discretion, resulting in systematic instances of objectively unreasonable — and often brutal — uses of force.”

In Andrews’ case, Hansen was asked to review a total of four use-of-force incidents against her, including the one involving Tucker, who was not subjected to discipline for it.

“That ACJ leadership has not disciplined Sgt. Tucker for this matter constitutes acquiescence to flagrant criminal conduct, thereby requiring external intervention to ensure the legal rights of incarcerated people are not violated by Allegheny County government employees and officials,” Grote wrote in the letter.

In an interview, he said staff at the Allegheny County Jail use force “reflexively.”

“Nowhere in what the county has provided in discovery does Ms. Andrews resist, provoke or otherwise act in any way that justifies the use of force,” Grote said.

According to statistics from the state Department of Corrections, the Allegheny County Jail outpaced all other Pennsylvania jails in 2019 with 720 use-of-force incidents.

Statistics show the restraint chair was used 339 times that year — almost four times more per capita than the rate for all other jails in the state.

In contrast, Hansen notes that all five jails in Philadelphia, combined, did not have a single use of the restraint chair that year.

“These numbers represent a glaring and harmful misuse of the restraint chair,” he wrote in his report.

In 2019, ACJ staff used stun guns 146 times — 12 times more per capita than all other jails. Allegheny County, Hansen said, accounted for 50% of all Taser use in Pennsylvania jail facilities that year.

“These numbers are extraordinary, and it is evidence that there is a culture that has been created by the administration where force is being approved in situations where it was not necessary or, at the very least, other methods should have been tried before the use of force was escalated,” Hansen wrote.

According to ACJ policy, “The emergency restraint chair will never be used as a form of punishment. The emergency restraint chair is always to be used to prevent harm to employees of the Allegheny County Bureau of Corrections, members of other agencies, civilians and inmates.”

Hansen wrote in his report that restraint-chair policy nationally has evolved such that it is not to be used for more than two hours.

“Two hours is considered more than enough time to involve medical or mental health to determine a plan of action if the inmate continues to be uncontrollable while in the restraint chair,” he wrote.

In Andrews’ case, Hansen wrote, ACJ staff used the restraint chair as “punishment and retaliation” for her behavior.

During depositions for Andrews’ lawsuit, Harper could not say what training staff members receive on the restraint chair’s use or how long a person can be held in one.

“Warden Harper’s lack of understanding of the use-of-force policy, which includes the restraint chair, is alarming,” Hansen wrote.

Hansen wrote that the restraint chair only should be used for safety and under limited circumstances. He suggested in his report that its use at ACJ require approval of the warden.

When asked during his deposition if staff was permitted to use force against an inmate for any jail-policy violation, Harper responded, “Absolutely.”

Still hopeful

During her incarceration, Andrews said, the restraint chair was the officers’ “go-to” for her.

Once placed in the chair, Andrews’ arms and legs would be secured, and a hood would be placed over her head.

Eventually, she said she learned how to be in it.

“I learned to not struggle, to not talk,” she said. “You just need to do what is necessary to stay safe in the chair.”

Andrews said she would sing gospel songs to help pass the time and keep her calm. Some of her favorites were “Take Me to the King” and “My God Is Awesome.”

For weeks and months after the May 30, 2019, incident, Andrews wondered what she had done wrong to cause it to happen.

“I made myself believe I did something to justify their actions — that I deserved it,” she said. “The video proves I didn’t.”

When Andrews, who has now completed her sentence and said she is in school to earn a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice, learned that Hansen thought the video of the incident ought to be turned over to law enforcement, she encouraged Grote to do so.

“There were no consequences, no responsibility, no action taken. They continue to do it to people,” she said. “This will, hopefully, shine a light to help stop it.”