An internal investigation is under way by the Schenectady, New York police department, based on a claim placed by 36-year-old Lakisha Smoot that a police officer repeatedly dunked her head in a feces-filled toilet.
In an interview with the Times Union, Smoot claimed that police were called to her apartment on August 24th in response to a noise complaint from a neighbor. Smoot, who was playing her music loudly, says she immediately turned it down after receiving a text from her landlord but by then officers had already been called. When police arrived and questioned her about the noise complaint, Smoot admits to lying about living at the home and playing the music. She claims that shortly thereafter, as she walked down the street, an officer jumped on her back, grabbed her arms and began wresting her to the ground.
After being detained for about two hours at police headquarters, Smoot, who suffers from chronic asthma and panic attacks, says she began hyperventilating. When she screamed for help, she said that one of the officers came into the holding cell and addressed her using a racial slur. “You finished faking? Get up,” she said the officer told her. “And he pulled me and threw me down and kicked me in my back and put my face in the freaking toilet,” she said. According to Smoot, the officer bobbed her head in the toilet “about three or four times.”
Having already used the toilet a few times prior to the incident, Smoot said she knew the toilet was broken and wouldn’t flush. “I couldn’t breathe, so my mouth was open, all the feces and urine, and there was blood all around the toilet,” she said. “It was disgusting, that’s all I could think about was that stainless steel toilet.” Smoot, who says she saw a camera in the cell area that she was in, is hoping that the encounter was recorded.
Hospital records confirm that Smoot did suffer injuries to her back and is now on pain medication. She says she is so shaken, she can’t do things she once enjoyed doing, like sitting outside on her porch or taking her pit bull for a walk.
Schenectady Police Department spokesperson Lt. Mark McCracken confirmed with the Times Union that police are looking into Smoot’s accusations. “I’ve never been so humiliated in my whole life,” she said in recollection of the traumatic event. Smoot has confirmed that she is seeking legal counsel.
