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 She was charged last year with disturbing the peace, but the charge was withdrawn in Circuit Court after she appealed her conviction in District Court.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
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see her on the corner
..with google earth..hula hoopin her butt off!
This woman was not charged
This woman was not charged with hula hooping. It was for felony assault, etc. While I have a great deal of empathy for her mental condition, some emotionally handicapped people can become very violent for little or no reason. Assaulting a cop is not excusable. It appears the VA court website in Norfolk lists her arrests including a prior assault conviction in which she received a 90 day suspended jail term. The judge must have felt she was competent to stand trial and 90 days supended or not is fairly harsh. It must have been an agravated case. It might just be the case the cops aren't getting a fair shake and the lady is a danger to others.
Taser use is warranted in cases like this and won't break bones like a baton will. The hooper community needs to re-think that this is a case against hooping and buy the gal some Xanax, an Ipod, and a better hoop than the WalMart special she currently uses.
You tell me
"Full blown tasering to bring down a person vs training tasering is not the same thing. "
Waht is the EXACT difference when weight is accounted for in the effect off the voltage.
Once you are done figuring this out, hopefully you can admit you are only outraged because this woman has not disclosed her party preference. Apaprently if she can be of no political advantage to you it is bad to tazer. Be related to a republican candidate and it is ok, 10 or not.
HULA HOOP WOMAN
I am not sure who has the more severe brain injury - she or the cop who tasered and arrested her.
Don't All Tasers Have Video Recorders Now?
It's been at least a year since I saw a show about tasers and the fact that they have built in video recorders. They aren't very high resolution, but they point at where the shock would be administered and record everything that happens during the use of the taser.
Release the taser video. We'll see if the officer had good reason to use the taser on a known mentally handicapped person.
Va Judical system website
On this website the arresting officer that is listed as N.G Parks,is he the officer that used the taser?
hula hoop lady
Are you all joking??? WHAT DOES HER RACE HAVE TO DO WITH ANYTHING?!!! the poor woman hula hoops everyday there! she is not running in traffic, nor is she beating teachers at the local norfolk public schools!!! WHY AREN'T WE TRYING TO FIX THAT PROBLEM? i personally do not blame the officers that responded, but the hateful person that would have the audacity to call the police on this poor woman! who is she bothering? why don't these people who THINK THAT THEY are upstanding citizens leave an innocent alone and try to find a way to clean up the filth running rampant in the streets of norfolk? don't they have anything better to do than harass someone with a disability? how would you feel if it were your family member having the police called on them when they are doing nothing wrong? anyone in the city who lives near OR DRIVES THRU THE wards corner know that this woman is fixture in that area. she is distracting NO ONE! LEAVE HER ALONE!
Thank you Norfolk Police, Great job
Everyone is right. A mentally challenged person would never pose a threat to anyone. Just ask the widow of Sgt. Cherry of the Chesapeake Police Department. A mentally challenged woman, who he knew and dealt with, stabbed him to death. His daughter grew up without a father because a mentally challenged person murdered him. If you were not out there watching the arrest, then keep quiet.If she complied, this would not have happened. Luckily she was white, no race card here.Everybody is innocent the next day, just ask them. They find God and all are upstanding citizens. They should have charged her with trespassing on a median. Just because she does it everyday does not make it legal. Charge her caregiver for allowing her to do this illegal act everyday. Thank you Norfolk Police. Job well done. I am glad the officer went home alive that night, mentally challenged people are not dangerous- yeah right.
Hoola hoop lady has been
Hoola hoop lady has been arrested many many times, so she hates cops and she is cursing them out every single time, i would imagine she would be resisting arrest. I think taser was too much, and whoever is her guardian probably should find her a better place to hoola hoop. I've seen people screaming remarks at her as they are passing by and throwing change at her. Not safe for her and others!!!!!!! She needs help and probably ipod!!!
Hola Hoop Lady
I am so sorry about what happened to the lady, but, am even more concerned that she does this in the middle of a highway median. Isn't this awfully dangerous? She stands to be hit by a vehicle. Maybe someone could help her find a more suitable and safer place to do her exercise. Since we don't know the actual "happening" we can hardly jump on the officer involved except that I wonder if he might have been a lot more gentle with her. Maybe she became agitated because of his gruff approach. Words sweetened with honey work a whole lot better than with harshness. Anyway, I hope she is exaunerated in this case and is taken better care of in the future. P. Wood, NC
what time
What time of day did this happen? Pam always has her radio with her when she's out on the grassy strip on Granby St, and I've never heard a sound.
Who called
Let's find out who called the cops on her. I mean how loud could it be? Hasn't she been doing this for years?
I stated very clearly that
I stated very clearly that what Wooten did was stupid. So, obviously, I am not ok with it.
However, by comparing that situation to the tasering of the "Hula Hoop Lady", you are being disingenuous. Full blown tasering to bring down a person vs training tasering is not the same thing.
I prefer the whole story to misleading politically-motivated snippets.
about taser's
People have actually died because of a taser, and you are right they should only be used in very extreme circumstances, which i seriously doubt this was.
No officer discretion
As a retired officer. I cannot See any threat of bodily harm to another person or the officer that would warrant use of a tazer from this lady.
This situation shows the officer did not know his surroundings or the people living in his patrol area. Community enforcement stresses the idea of knowing the neighborhoods, talking to the community when the chances arrive other than responding to dispatches. If the officer(s) would actully try to apply this part of there training, Instead of the US OR THEM mentality and I have been guilty of it too until a seasoned veteran reminded me why I became a cop.
I am sure the officer would have known her by her first name and would have just asked her to turn down the music. She would have complied and he could carry on with his day with another log completed.
Name Please
Could someone please post the police officer's name that tasered the mentally ill woman?
Thank You.
Fire The Cop!
Fire any police officer who uses their taser in anything less than a life or death situation. Just because a taser isn't lethal doesn't mean you can just have a taser party every time you get a challenging radio call.
Fire this cop before people find out who he is and give him a dose of his own medicine.
Seriously. Fire him.
What noise?
I still want to know how in the world someone would make a noise complaint about a lady hula hooping in the middle of a 6 lane road. Is that really the best they can do? Are they that anal that a person enjoying the weather everyday and exercising upsets them? Get over it.
Goalie
"And to blame her lack of cooperation on a medical condition which causes an adverse reaction to confrontation.... please. "
*You obviously know very little about brain damage. New to the police department or not, he should have had enough sense not to arrest this poor lady. After talking with her for a few minutes, he should have realized she wasn't a real threat. What an embarassement to Norfolk.
hmmm...
maybe that police officer could get some of the people walking around the streets at night around ODU...
Some of them can get to be pretty noisy...