Firefighter Injured During Traffic Stop With Chicago Cop
(CBS) -- A traffic stop leaves a Chicago firefighter injured -- and fearing for her life.
On Wednesday, Tamala Watkins says she was pulled over for speeding.
The firefighter was in uniform, on her way to work and felt something wasn't right.
A different officer may have felt it, too, stopping his squad to talk to her.
"I didn't get out until the other officer who pulled alongside of me gave me permission," Watkins tells CBS 2's Jeremy Ross.
"That's when the officer behind me got out his hand on his gun, 'Get in the car!' very angrily," she says.
Watkins says the verbal abuse turned physical when the officer slammed her vehicle door on her ankle.
"Then he did it a second time," she says.
She's wearing bandages rather than a cast, she says, because her heavy work boots lessened the impact.
Watkins was a police officer for 16 years. She also pulled over cars.
According to the Citizens Police Data Project, the veteran officer in question received at least 17 complaints and was disciplined at least once since 2011.
"We all are not bad. We all do not condone this behavior," Watkins says.
She says she has been contacted by the Independent Police Review Authority, which investigates complaints of police misconduct.
Chicago police and the union representing officers did not comment.
