Source: Mark Wilson / Getty Images
The Victoria Police Department in Texas is being sued by a woman who claims officers broke her ribs during an unlawful arrest.
According to the Victoria Advocate, Mary Jones filed a lawsuit against the Victorian Police department and several officers for a December 2013 incident. Jones says she was sleeping on the night of December 22, 2013, when police officers knocked on her door about a crime committed in her truck. Unaware that her sons took her vehicle mudding while she was sleeping, Jones denied any involvement and tried to go back into her house.
It was then that Jones was pushed to the ground and arrested alongside her fiancé and two sons for disorderly conduct.
She claims Victoria Police Officer D. Stone and two other unnamed officers injured her during the early morning hours of Dec. 22, 2013
“One of them had his foot on my arm, and the other kicked me and broke my ribs,” Jones said. “They hurt me. They hurt me bad, and they know they did.” Jones pleaded no contest to the charge and was released after posting a $350 bond, according to the Victoria County Sheriff’s Office.
During the arrest, her fiancé Matthew was tased for cursing at the officers.
Since the incident, Jones says she’s been in and out of hospitals.
Both Jones and Milberger do not have a criminal records in Victoria County. But Jones said William Wallace is known to law enforcement.
Medical records will support Jones had two black eyes for two months and was put on a ventilator after she was diagnosed with pneumonia due to her broken ribs. She’s visited the hospital about six times since her arrest, Jones said.
Her attorney Christopher J. Gale told reporters that police officers need to be trained more thoroughly to prevent incidents like this from happening again.
“I think the police, while they’re trained in the concepts of law enforcement, they are not trained in regards to the application of them,” he said. “When you express your opinion in any form or fashion with any kind of words and walk away from them, that’s a sign of disrespect. … It’s completely and utterly constitutional to walk away from somebody. They’re just going to make you pay the price. That’s concerning. This is not a police state.”
The Victoria Police Department has been slammed with several lawsuits regarding civil rights and illegal seizures since the ’90s.
Jones is looking to receive a total of $1 million in damages.
SOURCE: Victoria Advocate | PHOTO CREDIT: Getty
