A woman from Virginia is claiming that police who came to her house looking for her son in March violated her fourth amendment rights that protect her from unlawful seizure.
Ruth Davenport, 70, claims that when officers arrived at her house looking for her son (who was not home and wanted on misdemeanor warrants), she told them to leave, reported Hampton Roads. Officer Joel Ayala-Acevedo allegedly proceeded to grab her arm, push her inside and slam her to the floor. Officer Anthony Echevarria was accused of proceeding to place his hands on Davenport to help Acevedo bring the woman into custody.
The officer's account of the incident is a little different.
Ayala-Acevedo said Davenport cursed at him after he threatened her with a noise violation. He adds that the struggle allegedly ensued when he tried to place her under arrest, acknowledging that Davenport ended up on the floor, but said she kicked him while on the ground, reported Hampton Roads.
While Ayala-Acevedo charged Davenport with felony assault of a police officer and misdemeanor obstruction of justice, both charges were dropped in May when the body camera that was worn by Ayala-Acevedo showed his side of the story to be skewed, Hampton Road reported.
The video footage was not publicly released for Davenport or her newly appointed lawyer to review when they bring the police officers to court. Davenport's lawyer, S.W. Dawson, expects the city to release the video.
"I don't think the city has any legitimate claim that the video is privileged in some way," Dawson told Hampton Roads.
Davenport is seeking to sue the department for $500,000.
