Woman sues for being restrained, shocked at Barry Co. jail

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) -- A woman who claims she was hog-tied and shocked multiple times with a Taser in a southwest Missouri county Jail has filed a federal lawsuit alleging her civil rights were violated.

Melissa A. "Missy" Norman, 41, of Butterfield, claims she was "handcuffed, leg shackled, hog-tied, blindfolded and tasered numerous times," according to a news release issued by her attorneys, John Lewright and Robert Foulke.

Norman filed the federal lawsuit against the sheriff's office in rural Barry County, on the border with Arkansas, and the Cassville police.

Three sheriff's deputies and three Cassville police have resigned or been fired over the July 24 incident, which is being investigated by the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

Sheriff Mickey Epperly and Cassville police Chief Lonnie McCullough both declined to comment on the lawsuit Tuesday.

Lewright said the Taser incident was recorded by a video camera in the booking area, although he had yet to receive a copy of the recording.

In July, Epperly said that the woman was picked up by deputies and Cassville police out of concern that she might be suicidal. She became combative and had to be restrained, he said.

The sheriff said she was taken to the county jail and began hitting her head on a concrete floor. A deputy tried to stop her by using a Taser stun gun in front of two other deputies and three police officers, he said.

Norman's lawsuit contends she was treated at the hospital for "personal difficulties" and left voluntarily. It says she was apprehended later by a group of law enforcement officers, who "tackled, handcuffed, and leg-shackled" her.

It claims that a group of officers carried her into a jail's booking area and taunted her.

Norman "was terrified and started hitting her head," the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit alleges the officers taped a towel around her head with duct tape before shooting her with a Taser multiple times.

She eventually was placed in a jail cell but not released to a hospital until the next morning, it says.

The lawsuit does not state a specific amount of money sought but asks for compensatory and punitive damages.

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Information from: Springfield News-Leader, http://www.springfieldnews-leader.com