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A US federal appeals court says three Seattle police officers were justified when they used a stun gun on a pregnant mother who refused to sign a traffic ticket.

Malaika Brooks was driving her son to school in 2004 when she was stopped for exceeding the speed limit.

The officers used a Taser three times when she refused to get out of her car, all the while singing  'Stuck in the middle with you' and dancing in a shuffling manner.

A panel of judges ruled 2-1 the officers were justified in using force because Brooks could have picked her keys up off the floor, started the car and driven away.  One of the officers giving evidence at the hearing said "We thought Ms Brooks could be a flight risk.  We would have no way to track her down if she made an escape, apart from having her ID in our hands and her car was blocked in by our cars."

Two of the three judges didn't think that there was a problem with the police officer's actions, going so far as saying that "A Taser actually feels like the shock you get by rubbing your shoes on the carpet and touching something metal.  It doesn't hurt much but it gets your attention and that's the whole point of them."

The dissenting judge called the ruling absurd saying the officers had no authority to arrest Brooks, let alone use a Taser on a non-threatening woman who was seven months pregnant.  There has been some debate whether Brooks was seven months pregnant or actually only 28 weeks pregnant.  The ruling has sent a 'shock' to all the soccer-moms out there, especially those with a lead foot or a bun in the oven.

Tasering pregnant woman justified, judges rule

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Peanut Cup is the creator and designer of pollyROFL.com. He's usually stuck behind a partition, chipping away at corporate micro-sites but decided to give this blog writing thing a good hard crack to alleviate the pressure building behind his glassy eyes.