Springs Woman Seeks Damages After Police Confrontation On Video
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP/CBS4) - A Colorado Springs police officer threw a handcuffed woman face-first onto the floor after she kicked him, her attorney said, and the woman is seeking $500,000 from the city for her injuries.
The incident occurred in 2013 but was not widely reported until this week, when the Colorado Springs Independent newspaper posted surveillance video of the confrontation on its website.
Alexis Acker filed a claim with the city in May saying she suffered injuries to her face, head, teeth and jaw.
Police spokeswoman Lt. Catherine Buckley said she could not comment because of the civil litigation and an internal investigation. She said the officer, Tyler Walker, is still on the force.
Acker, then 18, had been arrested on charges of interfering with officers who were arresting her boyfriend. She was taken to a hospital but it was unclear why.
Hospital surveillance video shows an officer pushing a woman into a chair and the woman then kicking at him.
In a police report, Walker said Acker kicked him in the groin. Defense attorney Cindy Hyatt disputed that, saying Acker kicked something Walker was holding, possibly a computer.
"She has injuries that will be permanent. Not only the dental, the jaw, she has a head injury. And I think she is still with her doctors trying to get to bottom of exactly what that is," Hyatt said.
The video then shows the officer lifting the woman out of the chair and throwing her to the floor.
Acker pleaded guilty to misdemeanor obstruction of a police officer, and in return prosecutors dropped two felony counts of second-degree assault on an officer, Hyatt said.
Acker also received a deferred sentence on a menacing charge. If she stays out of trouble for three years, that charge is erased, Hyatt said.
Attorney Shimon Kohn represents Acker in her claim against the city. He didn't immediately return a call seeking comment.
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