Midwest City bondswoman faces assault complaint

MIDWEST CITY, May 23, 2008 (The Oklahoman - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- -- A bail bondswoman faces a municipal assault and battery complaint after a man she was bailing out of jail was stunned by a Taser.

Carol Franklin, 48, of Oklahoma City is accused of assaulting Robert Hanks, 26, a military security officer at Tinker Air Force Base. Franklin is required to post $675 bail. She said she plans to request a jury trial.

Hanks told The Oklahoman Franklin tased him May 9 during an argument in the parking lot of City Hall after Franklin bailed him out of jail. Hanks said the argument stemmed from him being unable to provide Franklin an address of where he was staying. He said he had recently returned from a deployment, was staying with a friend, and couldn't remember the address.

Hanks, who is black, said Franklin was abrasive and making racial comments during the argument.

"She was treating me like I was some kind of flight risk," Hanks said. "I kept telling her that I'm in the military -- I'm not hard to find."

Franklin, a bondswoman with Freedom Bail Bonds, said she made it clear to Hanks that she couldn't complete the required paperwork without his address. She said Hanks became combative when she told him she was revoking his bond and he needed to follow her back into the jail. Franklin said Hanks threatened to assault her, so she Tased him twice.

"I warned him before I did it," Franklin said. "As far as trying to make me out to be a racist, anybody who knows me knows it's completely untrue."

Franklin said her husband is black and they have two children together.

Franklin said after she tased Hanks, she escorted him back into the jail, but jailers refused to accept him until the two Taser prongs were removed from his chest and he was examined by a physician.

Hanks said he was put into a car with Franklin and another bail bondsman, and transferred to another vehicle driven by a third bondsman. While en route to St. Anthony's Hospital, the bondsman pulled the two prongs from his chest, Hanks said.

After a brief examination by a physician, Hanks said he was taken to the Oklahoma County jail.

Midwest City Police Chief Brandon Clabes said Hanks was booked into Midwest City Jail May 9 on complaints of driving under suspension and drug possession. He also had two outstanding warrants for his arrest from Oklahoma County District Court for bogus check complaints, Clabes said. His bail was $4,000.

Franklin said she has refunded the money Hanks' friends put up to bail him out of jail.

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