A federal judge has limited the claims that Margaret Peters can pursue in her lawsuit against a former police officer and the Waveland Police Department.
The Sea Coast Echo reports (http://bit.ly/zfzCOC) that U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr. this past week denied a motion by the city to dismiss the lawsuit.
However, the judge dismissed Peters' claims of cruel and unusual punishment and denial of due process. Other claims such as excessive force and municipal liability remain.
The 73-year-old Peters is suing the city over an incident which happened at the Wal-Mart parking lot in March 2008. Peters claims that she was parked in the fire lane at Wal-Mart when she was arrested and allegedly roughed up by an officer.
The city claims a surveillance videotape shows "a wide chasm exists between the facts portrayed by the plaintiff and the facts depicted in video footage."
"The surveillance footage depicts events distinctly different from the plaintiff's testimony," the city said in its motion.
Guirola said the court must rely on Peters' account of the incident to the extent that it does not contradict the video surveillance.
Guirola said that the video reveals that Peters did not pose an immediate threat to the safety of the officer or others. He said there was no indication that there was any real danger of Peters trying to escape or evidence that she resisting arrest.
"These circumstances would not have caused a reasonable officer to twist the arm of a 69-year-old woman or to take her to the ground by force," Guirola said.
Guirola ruled that Waveland was not immune from the claims that it failed to properly train its officers and oversee their actions.
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Information from: Sea Coast Echo, http://www.seacoastecho.com
