... or not.
Coldwater, MI — Last July, Tiffany McNeil would walk into the Branch County Jail in handcuffs only to leave in a stretcher moments later after being brutally assaulted by a police officer and knocked unconscious.
What happened while McNeil, 31, was being processed into jail that fateful day is now the subject of a federal lawsuit alleging that police used excessive force and then lied about what happened. The incident—in which a half dozen cops stood by and watched their brother in blue smash a handcuffed woman’s face into the pavement—was also captured on video.
“It was absolutely egregious, disgusting, thug-like conduct,” McNeil’s attorney, Solomon Radner, said. “You don’t expect that from police officers, and it shouldn’t be tolerated.”
On July 24, police were called to McNeil’s home by her husband during an argument. According to the lawsuit, McNeil had been drinking which sparked the argument.
McNeil was arrested and brought to the Branch County Jail to be processed for the incident. As police bring her into the secured entrance, we can see this disturbing scenario unfold.
The woman-beating cop, identified in the lawsuit as Lewis Eastmead, is seen shoving McNeil’s face into the concrete wall for several minutes. The entire time, McNeil is non-combative and not resisting in the least—not to mention, she’s in handcuffs.
All of the sudden, the officer begins pressing her face into the wall with both hands before pulling her backward and slamming her face-first into the concrete floor. McNeil was knocked out immediately.
During the attack on the restrained woman, five other cops watched as their brother in blue degraded the young woman by shoving her face into the wall and not a single one of them intervened as he slammed her to the floor.
In a most disturbing image, once Eastmead realizes McNeil is knocked unconscious, he rolls his victim over to reveal a puddle of blood on the floor coming from the massive gash in her head.
“I told you to relax,” the officer yells, with his knee now on McNeil’s back as she lay motionless on the ground.
For nearly 15 minutes, police prodded the unconscious woman as she lay entirely unresponsive on the concrete. Finally, EMTs arrive and bring her to the hospital where, according to Radner, McNeil received 17 stitches and was treated for a concussion.
After being treated in the hospital, police charged McNeil with felony resisting a police officer. To justify this charge, police then lied on their report, claiming McNeil was being “combative” and “actively resisting arrest,” according to the lawsuit.
Obviously, McNeil was not being combative as we can clearly see that fact in the video. She was doing nothing wrong when Eastmead attacked her.
Radner explained that police brought the felony charge against her to force her into taking a plea deal for the domestic misdemeanor charge to which she pleaded no contest. The felony resisting charge was then dropped.
According to the Detroit Free Press, Eastmead and about a dozen other officers and police department supervisors, including the officers who witnessed the incident, are listed among the defendants, with some identified by name and others listed as John Doe. McNeil is also suing the city of Coldwater.
Along with the excessive force claim, the lawsuit alleges unreasonable seizure; abuse of process and malicious prosecution; that the other police officers failed to intervene “to prevent the violation of Ms. McNeil’s constitutional rights,” and that city failed to properly screen, train and supervise its police officers. It seeks at least $75,000 in damages.
As for Eastmead, he is still a cop on the Coldwater force.
