Family of Taser Victim Speaks Out

The family of an Akron woman who sued the city of Stow after being tasered by a Stow police officer asked the city to stop its counter suit over an alleged breach of contract.

Joan and Roger Lash, the grandparents of Chelsea Garrett, who recently settled a court case with the city of Stow for $100,000 over her being tased in November 2011, asked members of Stow City Council recently not to move forward with plans to sue their granddaughter for breach of contract.

City officials have said Garrett violated a non-disclosure agreement by appearing in a TV news interview and publicly disclosing the dollar amount in the settlement.

Joan Lash said the incident has been a nightmare for her entire family and nearly destroyed Garrett and her mother, according to minutes from council's April 25 meeting.

The Lashes said Garrett, who has diabetes, has had to be hospitalized repeatedly since being tased for related health issues. They both said the resulting negative publicity from the case has been damaging to both her mental and physical health, according to meeting minutes.

"She has lost all sense of her self-esteem and self worth," Roger Lash said.

Garrett said she was the victim of police brutality when officers tased, handcuffed and arrested her after she almost clipped a police cruiser while driving following her involvement in a hit-skip accident.

Garrett argued she was suffering from diabetic blackouts at the time of the incident that caused erratic driving and inhibited her from following police commands.

Following the arrest, she pleaded guilty to wreckless driving and then filed a $250,000 lawsuit against the city in U.S. District Court where the parties eventually agreed on the settlement.

In January, Stow's insurance carrier agreed to settle the lawsuit for $100,000.

The officer who tased Garrett was cleared of wrongdoing by the Stow Police administration.

Roger Lash asked Stow council to forgive Garrett, who he described as a "sick, foolish girl."

"Neither side will benefit if this continues," he said.

Pleas from the Lashes did not stop council from voting Thursday to hire a consulting law firm to assist the city in pursuing the breach of contract lawsuit against Garrett.

Council voted 4-3 to hire the firm with council members Brian Lowdermilk, Matt Riehl and Mike Rasor voting against the action.

Lowdermilk said he thought it was time for the city to drop the matter.

Rasor wrote in his Stow Patch blog he thought the breach of contract suit amounted to little more than revenge action by the city.

"We likely won’t be able to collect anything from this young woman," Rasor said. "The issue just needs to die, so we can focus on doing what we do best: providing services to our residents."