Poor Mojo's Newswire

Forty-seven U.S. service members and 21 civilians have been charged in connection to the sale of military equipment stolen from Camp Lejeune and other military installations, the result of a two-year investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, The Jacksonville Daily News reports. Camp Lejeune Marines sold more than $2 million worth of equipment online, through websites like eBay and Craiglist, the Daily News reports. Sales were also made at yard sales and face-to-face deals. One official told the paper that NCIS agents “found that some military members were selling guns, or attempting to sell guns, to street gangs in North Carolina and elsewhere.” An undercover NCIS operation has recovered $1.8 million in stolen weapons and equipment, including assault rifles, night-vision goggles and $800 flashlights. . . .

The case involves Malaika Brooks, who was seven months pregnant and driving her 11-year-old son to school in Seattle when she was pulled over for speeding. The police say she was going 32 miles per hour in a school zone; the speed limit was 20. Ms. Brooks said she would accept a ticket but drew the line at signing it, which state law required at the time. Ms. Brooks thought, wrongly, that signing was an acknowledgment of guilt. Refusing to sign was a crime, and the two officers on the scene summoned a sergeant, who instructed them to arrest Ms. Brooks. She would not get out of her car. The situation plainly called for bold action, and Officer Juan M. Ornelas met the challenge by brandishing a Taser and asking Ms. Brooks if she knew what it was. She did not, but she told Officer Ornelas what she did know. “I have to go to the bathroom,” she said. “I am pregnant. I’m less than 60 days from having my baby.” The three men assessed the situation and conferred. “Well, don’t do it in her stomach,” one said. “Do it in her thigh.” Officer Ornelas twisted Ms. Brooks’s arm behind her back. A colleague, Officer Donald M. Jones, applied the Taser to Ms. Brooks’s left thigh, causing her to cry out and honk the car’s horn. A half-minute later, Officer Jones applied the Taser again, now to Ms. Brooks’s left arm. He waited six seconds before pressing it into her neck. Ms. Brooks fell over, and the officers dragged her into the street, laying her face down and cuffing her hands behind her back.