Nearly two months after the first Taser deployment on the University of Wisconsin campus in several years, conflicting reports about what happened that evening have emerged.
According to a UW police report, the two women involved in the Taser deployment were UW-Whitewater student Shanee Alston and Central State University student Ashley Rimmer-Ratzel.
The report said police became aware of a physical altercation between the two women outside of the Memorial Union as people began to file out of an Alphi Phi Alpha fraternity social at the Union, which several UWPD officers patrolled throughout the night.
When UWPD officer Brent Plisch began to hear hair peeling from the scalp as the altercation escalated, he decided to intervene and, according to the report, notified bystanders of the Taser three times before attempting to deploy his Taser on Alston’s left thigh.
The accounts from UWPD and the two women begin to differ after the Taser’s deployment. According to the UWPD report, Alston was able to avoid the Taser probes, which struck the concrete sidewalk rather than hitting her. Plisch’s second attempt was successful and subdued Alston, the report said.
However, both Alston and Rimmer-Ratzel maintain the probes struck Rimmer-Ratzel, not Alston, in the abdomen rather than the sidewalk or the thigh. Alston also said she was particularly concerned since Rimmer-Ratzel was allegedly carrying a razor during the fight, but she did not believe the fight warranted a Taser deployment.
“We fell down the stairs and the police broke it up and that was that,” Alston said. “It wasn’t that severe…I didn’t know about the Taser until after I left the Memorial Union.”
Rimmer-Ratzel told The Badger Herald she did not have physical control of Alston throughout the entire fight, and still has marks on her abdomen which she attributes to the Taser deployment.
UWPD spokesperson Sgt. Aaron Chapin said to his knowledge UWPD has not communicated with Alston or Rimmer-Ratzel since sending notices of their violations.
“According to our records…[Rimmer-Ratzel] did not have a Taser deployed on her,” Chapin said. “I can’t explain why she would say that she did or why she believes she did.”
Chapin added drive stuns such as the one used in the Union incident can leave small red marks of up to an inch apart since the Taser conducts electricity in the area, even if it doesn’t contact skin.
Both women have pleaded not-guilty to charges of Assaultive Behavior in the Dane County Court, according to Wisconsin court records. Rimmer-Ratzel has said she is considering pursuing legal action against UWPD.
Editor’s note: After giving an interview to a Herald reporter, in subsequent contact Rimmer-Ratzel requested her comments not be included. Since the reporter clearly identified himself, the newspaper decided to include the comments, at which point Rimmer-Ratzel threatened to take legal action against the newspaper.