Tamara Gaglione recounts her horror to INSIDE EDITION of being thrown to the ground and hogtied by police when she was pregnant.
Tamara Gaglione is the woman at the center of a controversial traffic stop that was caught-on-camera.
Gaglione was pregnant when she was slammed to the ground after being pulled over by cops for talking on a cell phone. But that's not all. Moments later, she ended up hogtied, lying on her stomach at the side of the freeway.
She said, "They hogtied me. I was afraid I would lose my baby.”
Tamara says she had just finished work as a nanny in Los Angeles when police saw her talking on her cell phone and ordered her to pull over.
She says she tried to find a safe place to stop, weaving in and out of traffic.
But in an incident report, a California highway patrol officer said she was "Willfully attempting to evade me."
Gaglione said, "I was not trying to flee. I was trying very hard to find a safe place to pull over.”
When 31-year-old Gaglione finally pulled over to the shoulder, she was told to exit her vehicle.
Gaglione, seven weeks pregnant but not showing, got out and was repeatedly ordered to turn around.
But she says she was petrified by the cops' guns.
Tamara said, "I was frozen with fear, I couldn't turn around. I was so afraid, I’m shouting, I’m pregnant, I’m pregnant!"
When she finally turned, the officer forced her to the ground.
She said, "His left knee is on my neck, he kicks me, and I believe I’m screaming at this point because of the pain."
More officers arrive and more restraints are put on her.
So why on Earth was a pregnant woman hogtied like that?
The incident report said Gaglione was "Raising her arms from her side in an aggressive manner," when she first got out of the vehicle.
On the ground, police said, she "Physically resisted attempts to handcuff her" and "continued to flail her body around."
She said, "None of those statements are true.”
The cops also claimed she only told them she was pregnant after they had forced her to the ground. She was charged with resisting arrest and evading officers.
Gaglione said, "I said, I'm pregnant, did you hear me saying I was pregnant? And what the officer responded was, even pregnant women kill officers."
But after the police dash cam video came to light, the charges against her were dismissed.
She sued the officers, and authorities just settled the case for $250,000.
Her baby, Gianna, was born in April healthy and happy and weighing 6 pounds, 12 ounces.
She said, "She's the perfect baby.”
A fortunate outcome after a horrible encounter.
The California highway patrol says they completed a review of the incident and took appropriate actions. The officers involved remain on the force.
