Photo courtesy of the Macomb PD & McDonough County Jail.
Ariel Harrison was brutalized, stripped butt-naked and left in a cold jail cell by two male officers and one female officer in Macomb, Illinois. The incident happened in October of 2019 and was reported on July 6 by Vice News.
Two videos detailed the grotesque treatment Harrison was subjected to by the McDonough County Sheriff’s Office. The video was released last April that showed Harrison being held down with one officer kneeling on her back and neck. She was also tased.
Harrison, who is blind in one eye, was pulled over for reckless driving. She was arrested by the Macomb Police Department without a sobriety test for drunk driving. Harrison also claimed that she was tased multiple times and woke up in the jail cell.
The second video showed the frightened woman refusing to remove her clothes in the presence of the male correctional officers for fear of being violated and asked for privacy. The female officer refused and proceeded to remove Harrison’s clothes forcibly. A male officer helped remove her underwear. The three then left Harrison in the cell naked.
“I had told her that it’s not right,” said Harrison. “That he wasn’t supposed to be there while I changed. She told me, ‘Well, he’s here with me.’ Basically, she didn’t really care. I felt like she violated my rights.”
A public defender failed to properly represent her, prompting the Democratic Women of McDonough County to help. The local organization fights for racial and social injustice, and they were successful in acquiring the video footage.
The 31-year-old spent six days in jail, and Harrison is still traumatized from her prison stay and suffers from nightmares. The jail cell footage was recorded, and you can watch the videos below. The second video is available here with sound.
The embattled woman has since lost custody of her children and hasn’t seen them since her arrest. The mother of three said that she moved from Chicago to Macomb in 2015 for her children.
“I’ve never done wrong. I’ve never messed with the law,” said Harrison. “I came down here to Macomb to let my kids live and be free. But now my kids have been taken from me, and I have these cases against me.”
Heather McMeekan, the Democratic Women of McDonough County founder, said that Harrison did not resist arrest. After Harrison saw the police sirens, she pulled over and slowed down (believing the police were pursuing someone else) and waited for them to pass her. Eventually, she realized they were following her and stopped. Harrison’s window was broken and would not roll down. She tried to explain it to the officers as they screamed orders at her, so she opened the door to explain, which apparently escalated things.
She admitted to refusing to get out of the police vehicle once arriving at the jail because she didn’t understand why she had been arrested. An officer forcibly removed Harrison from the vehicle and attempted to knock her to the ground, and caught their collar trying to break her fall. Another officer then tased her multiple times, and Harrison fell unconscious. She said she woke up in the jail cell sometime later.
Harrison was charged with aggravated battery, driving under the influence, resisting a police officer and improper lane usage. Police claim that she refused a sobriety test, but the woman says they never asked her to perform one, nor did they give her a breathalyzer.
A GoFundMe was started to help pay for Harrison’s legal costs. A petition was also begun to have her charges dropped and have the officers fired for domestic terrorism.