Texas Sheriff’s Deputy Recorded Punching A Pregnant Woman

By Lina Bryce

Texas Rangers are investigating whether or not excessive force was used when a sheriff’s deputy punched a pregnant woman during what began as a CPS removal of a minor.

The March 4th confrontation began when Deanna Jo Robinson and her husband’s six-year-old stepson, who suffers from cerebral palsy, told school officials that his father struck him – this according to the CPS removal affidavit. The child also reported that the couple had been hitting each other. CPS investigators questioned her husband, who described it as more of a tap to get the child’s attention.

Robinson said the couple did shove each other, but denies that there was any hitting. Robinson said she had left to stay with her parents as a result.

The sheriff said the officers showed Robinson a court order to remove the child which she denied and attempted to close the door on the officer. An officer blocked the doorway and entered the home to follow the court order. The sheriff stated Robinson was screaming obscenities and “yelling, ‘you’re not talking my child!'”

In the process, the sheriff said she struck Josh Robinson in the face, which led him and a Quinlan police officer to try to take her into custody for assault on an officer.

Meeks said the 30-second security camera video of the incident shows officers trying to handcuff Robinson. She told News 8 earlier this week that she was in handcuffs at the time the video was shot, although this is being disputed by the officers.

The video shows Deputy Josh Robinson and William Whitten holding down Deanna Robinson. She is screaming repeatedly saying she is pregnant, apparently furious that case workers for CPS are there to remove her 18-month-old from her custody by court order.

Deputy Robinson’s actions are now under investigation, while he continues to remain on duty. In the video, he hits the pregnant woman at least once. The sheriff of Hunt County said the Texas Rangers will investigate the deputy’s act, reported KTVT.

The video can be viewed here. Warning: Explicit language and Violence.

Sheriff Randy Meeks gave his account of what he thinks “may have happened.”.

“I believe by looking at it that he was trying to keep her hands away from his gun and that will take however many blows to keep her away from his gun,” said Sheriff Meeks.

Meeks also told the media that he believes the video indicates another side of the story:

“I believe by looking at it that he is trying to keep her hands away from his gun, and that will take however many blows it takes to keep her away from his gun,” Meeks said. “If someone gets your gun, you can be killed by a pregnant woman just as well as a 16-year-old child.”

According to the sheriff, the video was taken by a motion-activated camera, so there are four-minute and two-minute gaps in the recording. The 30-second video posted on YouTube shows the deputy hitting Robinson at least once as he and another deputy push her into the kitchen counter. The images then show a deputy pulling his arm back as if to strike her again before the footage cuts off.

Deanna Jo Robinson says the deputies not only assaulted her, but would’ve harmed her baby. She delivered that baby just three weeks ago.

deanna jo robinson
Source Photo WFAA

“There is no excuse or justification for what happened to me. They could’ve killed my baby,” said Robinson to WFAA.

Meeks promised that Deputy Josh Robinson would be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law if any criminal wrongdoing is found to have occurred, but said if no wrongdoing is found, he will stand behind the deputy “100 percent.”

“I have requested that the Texas Rangers conduct an independent investigation into this incident in the interest of transparency and preserving public confidence in the Hunt County Sheriff’s Office,” Meeks said.

“I believe before judgment is rendered the whole truth needs to be examined.”

Deanna Robinson is also being accused of assaulting the officer and no charges have been filed against Deanna Robinson for allegedly reaching for the gun. Robinson was arrested on charges of resisting arrest, assault on a public servant, and interference with child custody for which she spent five days in jail.

Meeks said Robinson remained uncooperative when she arrived at the jail, and was placed in a holding cell because she was pregnant. The sheriff said Deanna Robinson — who was 38 weeks and two days pregnant at the time — was examined by the jail’s head nurse, who did not find any bruises on her.

There are photos of Robinson that WFAA reports have been taken after her release from jail show large bruises on her stomach.

The sheriff claims that an appointment had been made for her to see a doctor, but Robinson had bonded out before that appointment could occur.

Robinson told WFAA that no one — not the CPS investigators, nor other officers — intervened when she was being struck. Robinson said she never tried to grab the deputy’s gun or gun belt at any point.

“They’re going to try to paint it in whatever light they can to try to increase the controversy to try to hide the truth,” she said.

An interesting detail is that Deanna Jo Robinson is an Air Force veteran who won the branch’s high honor, the Airman’s Medal, for dragging several soldiers out of a burning plane in Iraq.

Robinson’s toddler and her three stepchildren remain in temporary CPS custody. 

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