TheSanDiegoChannel.com - Woman Stunned By Officer's Taser Loses Fetus

3/8/02 6:02 PM

Search

HELP YOU NEED
NEWS

WEATHER

HOUSE & HOME
TRAFFIC

LAW

SPORTS

AUTO

COMMUNITY

TRAVEL

SHOPPING

TROUBLESHOOTER STAYING HEALTHY

CAREER
TECH

MONEY

EDUCATION
ENTERTAINMENT

News Tips | 10News Team | 10 Editorials & Forums | Lottery | Unit
Unit 10 Investigations

sponsor:

Home Page/ News/Story

Woman Stunned By Officer's Taser Loses Fetus
Officer Apparently Didn't Know Woman Was Pregnant
Posted: 9:32 a.m. PST December 19, 2001
Updated: 10:06 a.m. PST December 19, 2001

CHULA VISTA -- Chula Vista police investigating a stillbirth four days after an
officer used a stun gun on a pregnant woman said an autopsy failed to link the
death to the electrical shock, a lieutenant said Wednesday.

MORE HEADLINES
Details Released In Gang
Investigation
Two San Diego Kmarts
Get The Axe
Police Look For SDSU

Stock Quotes
provided
by:

Sexual Assault Suspect
F-14 Crashes On Approach

A postmortem exam "gave no indication" that the 50,000-volt shock from the
Taser weapon was a factor in the death of the 6-month-old female fetus last
weekend, police Lt. Don Hunter said.

To Stennis

"At this time, the cause of death is unknown," he said.

Road Rager Allegedly

Police responding to a report of a family fight found Cyndi Grippi, 36, in an
agitated state outside her home in the 700 block of Monterey Avenue in Chula
Vista shortly after 11 a.m. last Tuesday, authorities said.
The officers later told detectives it was not immediately apparent that the woman
was pregnant.
She was "running around frantically, screaming and seemed to be hysterical" as
her brothers, Mark and Steve, and a family friend looked on, the lieutenant said.
When she saw the officers, the woman tried to flee into the house, but was
blocked at a garage entrance by Steve Grippi. The brother and sister then began
pushing at each other.

San Marcos Students Walk

Updated 4:03 EDT
Dow

Out Of Classes
Uses Club To Club
Local Family Receives
Tape From The Front
Marine Jet Crashes Off

10572.49
47.12

Nasdaq

48.04
NYSE

602.10
1.20

Quick Quotes

Coast
Governor Confident Of
November Win

1929.67

Go
enter name or
symbol

National City $20M Bay
Project Under Way

SEARCH

SITE MAP

Quotes delayed a
minimum of 20 min.

Entire Site
sponsor:

The officers sought to calm the woman to question her, but she ignored them
and again tried to run inside, police said.
At that point, one of the officers, a three-year member of the Chula Vista Police
Department, pointed his stun gun at her and repeated the command to halt.
"She turned, looked at the officer, said 'no' and ran toward the residence," Hunter
said.

sponsor:

He then discharged the device, which sent its two small barbs carrying electric
current into her back, causing her to collapse.
"Just after (she) fell to the ground, someone shouted that she was pregnant,"
http://www.thesandiegochannel.com/sand/news/stories/news-113279420011219-111223.html

Page 1 of 2

TheSanDiegoChannel.com - Woman Stunned By Officer's Taser Loses Fetus

3/8/02 6:02 PM

Hunter said. "When the officers verified that she appeared to be pregnant,
emergency medical support was requested."
The patrolmen had not realized the woman was pregnant until "after she was
Tasered," he added.
Medics took her to Scripps Chula Vista Hospital, where she was treated and
released, with a referral to another medical center for monitoring of her condition.
There, Grippi's fetus was stillborn early Saturday morning, according to the San
Diego County Medical Examiner's Office.
A cause-of-death ruling is on hold pending further tests, a coroner's investigator
said.
Police withheld the names of the officers involved.
"There's no criminal investigation of them planned," Hunter said.
The unidentified officer has not received any disciplinary action.
Copyright 2001 by TheSanDiegoChannel.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

NEWS

WEATHER

TRAFFIC

SPORTS

COMMUNITY

TROUBLESHOOTER STAYING HEALTHY

TECH

MONEY

ENTERTAINMENT

Partners:

Looking to Advertise?

Entire Site © 2002, Internet Broadcasting Systems, Inc. and The McGraw-Hill Companies.
Click here for IBS privacy policy and terms of use. · Annual FCC EEO Report
Stock Box Copyright ©2001 , Standard & Poor's, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

http://www.thesandiegochannel.com/sand/news/stories/news-113279420011219-111223.html

Page 2 of 2