Out of jail, Hula Hoop Lady says she can't recall arrest

NORFOLK

Pamela Brown, well-known for hula hooping almost every day on a grassy Granby Street median near Wards Corner, can talk about the 1977 car crash that injured her brain like it just happened.

But after her release from jail Tuesday, the 49-year-old woman said she was at a loss to recall her arrest Saturday morning by city police.

Police say what started as a noise complaint led them to Brown and that she was shocked repeatedly with a Taser. She spent the weekend in jail on charges of assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest and excessive noise before her release Tuesday on a $5,000 recognizance bond.

No police report was available Tuesday, and no further details were released.

Brown was 17 years old and six days from graduating from Deep Creek High School in Chesapeake when she was in the car crash in 1977. She spent weeks in a coma, and she had to relearn how to walk and speak.

She has struggled to establish an independent life since the injury, said her social worker, Marylin Copeland, who came to court with Brown. Brown has short-term memory loss and seizures.

She lives in the Cromwell House apartments for senior citizens and people with disabilities. Nearly every day, Brown hangs a radio in a plastic bag from a road sign on nearby Granby Street and hula hoops to "golden oldies."

She used to hula hoop closer to her apartment, but her radio woke residents. She was charged last year with disturbing the peace, but the charge was withdrawn in Circuit Court after she appealed her conviction in District Court.

After her release Tuesday afternoon, Brown said she didn't remember anything about Saturday's arrest. Jail staff returned Brown's possessions, including a medic-alert necklace reading: "Seizure disorder, metal rod in lower LT leg & pin LT shoulder, allergic to penicillin, aspirin."

She's due back in court on Nov. 3.

Brown's lawyer is Howard Copeland, who is married to her social worker. The Copelands said Tuesday that they talked with police who patrol near Wards Corner after last year's incident to warn them about Brown's brain injury and the conduct it might cause.

"When she's confronted, she has a negative reaction," Marylin Copeland said. The injury makes Brown prone to passive seizures, during which she doesn't react to her environment, Brown said.

"This is something most people don't understand - especially cops," Brown said.

It also makes her impulsive, Copeland said. Still, Brown doesn't believe she assaulted police officers, given her physical limitations.

"No way," Brown said. "And I was brought up by my parents to respect and obey police officers."

She also said that if neighbors objected to her music, she would exercise farther away. Meanwhile, she was headed home.

"I'll be glad to sleep in my own bed and not have to hear all that noise," Brown said of the jail. "These ears can hear roaches running."

Michelle Washington, (757)446-2287, michelle.washington@pilotonline.com