Police say Child ignored their requests to stop after they saw her riding in the street without lights. They say when she ran to a house, they chased her down and took her into custody on her porch using reasonable force.
— From The Oregonian
The Oregonian reported Monday night that a 57 year-old St. Johns woman is suing two Portland police officers in U.S. District Court for an incident six years ago that began because she was riding her bike without lights.
Here’s more from The Oregonian:
…saying they violated her civil rights. Freedom Child, a St. Johns resident, said she is making it a federal case because the city failed to investigate when she filed a complaint about her treatment in 2003.
…
Police say Child ignored their requests to stop after they saw her riding in the street without lights. They say when she ran to a house, they chased her down and took her into custody on her porch using reasonable force.
According to The Oregonian, opening statements in the trial explained that the incident happened on August 6th, 2003 after Child was heading home after volunteering with the Community Cycling Center. After she, “noticed a dark sedan sitting at a stop sign,” the car reportedly began to follow her and when she asked who was in the car, “she got no reply, except creepy questions, such as, “Do you live here?””
As Child ran to her front door, the officers gave chase and grabbed her. She was ultimately arrested and booked downtown for charges of failure to have a bike light and interfering with an officer.
Similar to the situation with Reverend Phil Sano (back in June, he was tackled and tasered for allegedly not heeding an officer’s warning to pull over for not having a bike light), one of the questions surrounding this is whether or not the officers properly identified themselves.
Charges of resisting arrest were brought against Sano, but he was found not guilty by a Multnomah County judge last month.
In the Freedom Child case, one of the officers reportedly “testified that he told the bicyclist to stop, but said he wasn’t sure he used the word “police” at first.”
The trial is ongoing. For more on this story, read detailed coverage from The Oregonian.