A San Francisco woman is suing Bay Area Transit Police and Oakland, California police for an altercation that left her with severe facial injuries last year.
Transit police arrested Megan Sheehan, 28, on March 17, 2014, after they found her sitting at the Lake Merritt BART station, noticeably drunk.
Body camera footage shows Sheehan arguing with at least one officer in the station and refusing to be handcuffed.
Police took her to the Santa Rita Jail, where she was "initially compliant," according to the police report obtained by ABC 7. But when they temporarily removed her handcuffs so she could take off her jewelry, she threw a hair tie at an officer and started digging through her purse.
Body camera footage and a video from the security camera at the jail show Sheehan start to fight with police in front of the counter, and the police report states she was "violently punching."
The footage shows two officers grabbing her arms and slamming her face into the ground. A woman behind the counter then offers to call for medical help.
In an interview with ABC 7, Sheehan's attorney John Scott said the officers' response was unreasonably violent.
"They knew by throwing her to the ground without having her hands available to break the fall, that she was gonna suffer serious head injuries," Scott said.
Sheehan said she broke four bones in her cheek one and suffered a split molar and a cracked front tooth.
She has since recovered from her injuries but says she is still suffering psychological damage.
"I should have never gotten that drunk, but also there are ways to detain someone and not break their face," Sheehan told ABC 7.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Welcome to TomoNews, where we animate the most entertaining news on the internets. Come here for an animated look at viral headlines, US news, celebrity gossip, salacious scandals, dumb criminals and much more! Subscribe now for daily news animations that will knock your sock
