Deanna Robinson, who was 38 weeks pregnant, could have tried to reach for unidentified deputy’s firearm, says Hunt County sheriff Randy Meeks

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

A Texas deputy shown in a video apparently striking a pregnant woman may have used force to prevent her from taking his firearm, a law enforcement official said on Wednesday.



Hunt County sheriff Randy Meeks acknowledged at a news conference that he was not certain Deanna Robinson reached for the weapon. But he said the unidentified deputy told investigators that she loosened his ammunition belt in the struggle.

Robinson was 38 weeks pregnant when she was arrested on 4 March at her parents’ home in Quinlan, 40 miles north-east of Dallas, during a child abuse investigation.

Home surveillance video appears to show Robinson pressed stomach-first against a counter, then the deputy raising his arm and striking her. Robinson, 38, is heard screaming, “I’m pregnant!”

The video was later posted online.

Meeks said Texas Rangers are leading the investigation and he has begun an internal review to determine if policy violations occurred during the confrontation with Robinson, who has called for the deputy to be charged with assault.

Meeks said one “narrative” from the approximately 30-second video is that his deputy struck a pregnant woman. But another narrative, he said, is that Robinson was reaching for his weapon.

“Which narrative is correct?” he asked. “I don’t know. I wasn’t there.”

Rangers will be reviewing much more evidence beyond just the video clip, he said.

Robinson has said officers gave no reason why they were taking her 18-month-old son into protective custody, but Meeks said she was shown a court order granting the custody.

“Everything went chaotic right off the get-go,” he said.

Robinson, an Air Force veteran, was arrested on charges of assault on a public servant, resisting arrest and interfering with child custody. She spent nearly a week in jail.

Her son, born healthy on 15 March, is with her parents. Three stepchildren and her 18-month-old son are with child protective services.

Robinson said that, a few days before her arrest, she and her husband had an argument and got into a shoving match as she held her toddler. One of the older children apparently told a teacher, who reported the incident to child protective services.

Robinson and her toddler were staying with her parents when officers arrived to do a welfare check on the 18-month-old, leading to the scuffle as she tried to prevent deputies from taking her son.

“There was no professionalism. There was brute force against her, where she was obviously pregnant, it was not something that they could mistake,” said attorney Carol Gustin, representing Robinson.



