MELVINDALE, Mich. (WXYZ) — Alica Cook was sitting in a parked car when Melvindale’s most polarizing police officer spotted her.
The mother of two was sitting in a white SUV outside a school, along with her two daughters, waiting to drop off her 11-year-old at cheerleading practice.
That’s when Lt. Matthew Furman pulled up.
“I’ve never been treated like that — ever,” Cook said in an interview this month, recalling that Saturday in April.
“I love law enforcement. I have friends that are officers. My grandfather’s a retired cop. I never experienced what I experienced with him," she said.
Furman was working a traffic enforcement detail when he came upon the parked vehicle. Its tab had expired a month earlier, he noted, and when he ran the plate, the vehicle came back as uninsured.
RELATED: Controversial Melvindale Lt. fends off claim of excessive force involving Taser
After Furman approached the vehicle, Cook would tell the lieutenant that she’d just received news about a friend’s health while she waited outside the school.
“I had just got bad news saying that the person that... the (driver who owned the car) just had heart surgery,” she said. “At the time, my mind was in a thousand places.”
At the same time, Cook's mother can be heard placing a call to her daughter, who answers the phone using the vehicle's Bluetooth.
WATCH: Extended bodycam of Lt. Furman's traffic stop
After Cook accepted the call, Furman would ask to see the woman’s driver’s license. Cook can be heard asking him for “one second.”
“Don’t tell me one second!” Furman said, raising his voice.
“Sir!” she said. “You pulled me over inside of a school parking lot!”
Before long, what could have been a routine traffic stop quickly escalated, Cook said, because of the lieutenant's short fuse.
“It was like, ‘Turn the car off now! You’re on the phone? I don’t care you’re on the phone! Do what I say right now!’” Cook recalled.
“If I could have processed my thought in the moment and just turned the car off, maybe it wouldn’t have escalated as bad," she said.
Moments later, after Cook failed to supply her license, Furman appears to reach into the vehicle to turn the car off.
The scene continues to escalate, with both Furman and Cook’s tempers flaring.
Then, in front of other students, parents and Cook’s own children, Furman draws his Taser and fires, striking Cook. He would tase her a second time. Shrieks from Cook and her daughters can be heard as the tasing continues.
Furman would later say he feared for his safety.
“I was terrified from you,” he said. “You terrified me. You scared me.”
Cook said she presented no threat.
“You look at me: I got two children in the car. I’m facing the school building. What are you in fear of?” she asked. “My hands are up.”
7 News Detroit shared the entire video of the stop with two experts in policing: retired Detroit Assistant Chief Steve Dolunt along with Travis Norton, a retired lieutenant who consults with departments on use of force.
Both agreed that Cook was uncooperative — like when she refused to provide her license, which the law requires.
But they also found fault in Furman’s inability to deescalate the stop, and both were troubled when he tased Cook in front of her own children.
“It disturbed me,” Dolunt said. “This is why people don’t like, kids don’t like the police or they don’t trust them. I agree with that statement.”
Norton said use of the Taser was “unreasonable in the circumstances (Furman) was dealing with.”
Cook would be hit with a civil infraction and four misdemeanors, including resisting arrest, interfering with a police officer and driving on a suspended license.
But after reviewing the body camera video, the city attorney’s office dismissed everything.
Dolunt, the retired assistant police chief, isn't surprised.
“As a prosecutor, I’m looking at that going: 'This doesn’t look good,'” Dolunt said. “Because you don’t really want that getting out. I mean, it’s out now — it looks poorly on the department and the officers.”
But the department never investigated Furman’s use of force from this day, according to Melvindale Deputy Chief Nicholas Martinez. He did not offer a reason for why.
After 7 News Detroit obtained the body camera video through the Freedom of Information Act, the department forwarded a copy to Wayne County’s prosecutor for review.
That office is currently reviewing a warrant for possible criminal charges against Furman related to another tasing 7 News revealed from July.
Furman did not respond to calls, texts and emails seeking comment on the traffic stop involving Alica Cook. He has been on administrative leave since the summer while his July tasing was under investigation.
In addition, he previously told 7 News Detroit that he was seeking counseling over the shooting death of Officer Mohamed Said last year.
“He shouldn’t be on the force,” Cook said. “No one should ever have to encounter dealing with someone that feel like their authority is more important than a person’s humanity.”
Contact 7 Investigator Ross Jones at ross.jones@wxyz.com or at (248) 827-9466.