The woman who was knocked over a bench by a Tucson police sergeant when a large crowd gathered in Main Gate Square last March filed a lawsuit Wednesday.
The lawsuit against Sgt. Joel Mann, Tucson Police Chief Roberto Villaseñor and the city of Tucson comes after a $375,000 claim filed by the woman, Christina Gardilcic, did not lead to a settlement.
The point of the lawsuit is to hold the officer accountable for “battery” and to affect change in police training for crowd control, said Stephen Weeks, her attorney.
When a raucous crowd gathered on East University Boulevard on March 29, 2014, following the University of Arizona basketball team’s loss in the NCAA tournament, Gardilcic was leaving a Chipotle restaurant and heading to a parking garage as police were trying to control the crowd.
The sergeant was seen on video knocking Gardilcic, who was talking on the phone and apparently unaware of his commands for her to get back, over a bench.
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Weeks said she was blindsided and suffered back spasms and a bruised left arm as a result of what he says was “excessive force.” She was able to finish her last semester of school, but the incident left her traumatized and unable to go back to school.
The sergeant was suspended without pay for 80 hours as a disciplinary measure.
In October, the Pima County Attorney’s Office said it found “no criminal intent” in Mann’s actions that night, though it said he was “overzealous.”
In response to Gardilcic’s claim, the city offered $20,000 and an apology from Villaseñor, but not Mann.
That wasn’t good enough, Weeks said. His client declined the offer.
“I hope, at the end of the day, we don’t end up in a situation like this ever again in the city of Tucson,” he said.
Villaseñor, Mike Storie, an attorney representing Mann, and Mike Rankin, the city attorney, could not be reached for comment Wednesday by deadline.
Contact reporter Yoohyun Jung at 520-573-4224 or yjung@tucson.com. On Twitter: @yoohyun_jung.
Yoohyun Jung
Data reporter
