AN UPDATED STORY HAS BEEN POSTED WITH A RESPONSE FROM NEW YORK STATE POLICE
BINGHAMTON, NY (WIVT/WBGH) – A Binghamton woman is alleging police misconduct that caused her to lose her pregnancy during a violent police traffic stop.
Quashaia Oranchak says she was driving from her grandmother’s house during the afternoon of March 20, when an unmarked police car came up from behind her vehicle, flashing its lights.
Oranchak’s attorney, Ron Benjamin, alleges that when she failed to pull over, the police car forced her off the road.
Benjamin says the police officer pulled Oranchak from the vehicle while other passengers shouted repeatedly, “She is pregnant.”
Benjamin says the officer treated Oranchak like a rag doll, slamming her onto the hood of the car.
Oranchak, who was more than 6 months pregnant at the time, was allegedly taken to State Police Barracks and the Broome County Jail after drugs were found in the vehicle.
Later that evening, she was taken to Wilson Hospital for an emergency C-section.
Benjamin says the baby died from trauma inflicted by the violent arrest.
He says that while drugs were found, neither Oranchak nor her passengers engaged in any violent behavior, nor did they resist arrest.
Benjamin is calling for an outside investigation into the incident which he is labeling as a homicide.
NewsChannel 34 has sent an email to New York State Police seeking comment and is awaiting a reply.