Actress Taryn Manning has filed a $10 million lawsuit against New York City claiming that she was falsely arrested in November 2014 for making criminal threats to a woman who has allegedly been stalking the actress, according to People Magazine.
In her petition, filed Monday in New York Supreme Court, Manning claims she was arrested on Nov. 18, 2014, at the Fifth Precinct station in Chinatown after meeting with detectives about alleged threatening text messages sent to her stalker and former roommate Jeanine Heller. The text messages reportedly violated a restraining order.
Manning, who is known for her role as meth-head-turned-religious convict Tiffany "Pennsatucky" Doggett in the hit Netflix series "Orange Is The New Black," said she should have never been arrested after a meeting with detectives. Although charges were not pressed, Manning was processed, placed in holding and had to wait until the District Attorney's Office formally declined prosecution.
Manning's documents stated that the NYPD was aware that no charges would be pressed against the actress but arrested her anyway.
"The meeting ended when I was handcuffed by a detective and locked in a small room adjacent to the interview room," the actress said in a sworn affidavit filed with the petition Monday, according to Entertainment Tonight. "Approximately 20 minutes later, I was removed [from the room] still handcuffed and marched through the precinct. I was processed and ultimately placed in a holding cell."
Heller has been arrested twice before for allegedly stalking and harassing Manning, the documents stated, according to New York Post's Page Six. She was arrested a third time and sentenced to six months in jail after violating a conditional discharge by texting Manning several times.
"Ms. Manning should never have been arrested where the New York City Police Department received advance notice from the New York County District Attorney's Office that Ms. Manning would not be prosecuted based on an allegation of the subject complainant," Manning's attorney James Franzetti told People.
"It was also astonishing that the NYPD acted on an allegation of a complainant with a glaring prosecutorial (two prior arrests, charges including stalking and harassing Ms. Manning) and plea history," Franzetti added.
Franzetti said the petition "is the first step in a claim for damages arising out of the patently false November 18, 2014 arrest of Taryn Manning,"
"Substantively, the petition concerns the acquired, actual knowledge of the City of New York of the essential, foundational facts which serve as the basis for Ms. Manning's claims and causes of action for false arrest, civil rights and additional statutory violations," the statement continues.
While the arrest was voided, Manning's petition also claims that the NYPD leaked details of her arrest to the media. Her damages requested include "attorney's fees, hours of detention, emotional distress and reputational harm."
However, in filing the petition, the petite actress is asking for permission to file "a late notice of claim against the city after failing to do so within the 90-day deadline," Page Six reported.
Manning's lawsuit comes just a month after the actress was accused of assaulting her makeup artist Holly Hartman, TMZ reported. During the incident, which allegedly took place last November, Manning reportedly headbutted Hartman, whipped her with a wet towel, sprayed Windex in her eyes and dared Hartman to stab her. Manning denies the accusations, saying she hasn't been in contact with Hartman in months.
