Accused cops attack and knockdown an innocent mother, then fabricate lies to justify their actions — lawsuit

 

Nakia Porter had committed no crime the night she was beaten and abused by officers from the Solano County Sheriff's Office. Porter, a professional software engineer and mother of two without a criminal record, had stopped off the highway to change drivers during a journey with her father and children, but would never return to the highway. Rather than that, Porter would be assaulted, rendered unconscious, and abducted, all while her father was arrested and thrown into the back of a police car.

Despite the fact that they were aware they were being filmed by their body cameras, deputies continued to fabricate a fake narrative to justify their assault and subsequent arrest of an innocent mother of three. Porter and her father, Joe Powell, are now suing and will almost certainly win.

The event occurred on August 6, 2020, when the family was driving home to Orangevale, northeast of Sacramento, after a vacation to Oakland. In the rear seat sat her two children, ages 3 and 6, and a 4-year-old niece.

Porter became exhausted throughout the trip and pulled over to a safe location to switch drivers. Their perfectly lawful conduct attracted the notice of Solano County sheriff's officers, who proceeded to violate their rights in every manner possible.

While switching cars, the deputies — Dalton McCampbell and Lisa McDowell — conducted a traffic stop and started screaming commands at Porter with their weapons drawn. Porter cooperated with them all.

The officers said that they observed the car's license plates were mismatched — a California plate on the rear and a Maryland plate on the front. Porter had relocated from Maryland and had simply neglected to remove her vehicle's front plate. However, the vehicle was hers, as the deputies quickly discovered.

“However, the deputies reported the back license plate to their dispatch since they knew it fit the description of the vehicle and there was no record of it being stolen,” the lawsuit says.

“I was doing everything properly and providing no cause to be treated this way,” Porter said.

Regrettably, her cooperation was meaningless to the deputies. While she attempted to explain that they were changing drivers, they pushed in and handcuffed her for no reason.

She made no attempt to resist handcuffing Porter.

“For those who are hearing, I will state unequivocally that I am not resisting,” Porter said into the officers' cameras. “You are not informing me of my legal rights.”

According to the video, the deputies started pushing the 5'2" 125 lb lady about before knocking her down.

“Hands behind your back. McCampbell yelled, "Get on your stomach!"

Due to the fact that the two policemen have the little lady pushed to the ground, it's difficult to see what's going on. Porter, on the other hand, said in the complaint that officers struck her in the head and stomach, knelt on her back, and pulled her hair.

McCampbell, described in the complaint as a big male deputy, "pushed Nakia onto her stomach and mounted her while McDowell, a large female officer, seized her by the hair, even yanking out her braids and shoving her face into the pavement." She had committed no wrongdoing. Nikia lost consciousness as a result of the beating.”

As shown by the footage, she is then struck unconscious. Porter said that she had a brief period of unconsciousness shortly after they placed her in handcuffs.

“I believe she has escaped,” McCambell said on the video.

McCambell continues to sit on his victim for almost a minute, squeezing the breath from her lungs while she lays unconscious on the ground. He then grabbed one of Porter's limbs and pulled her dead corpse back to the police vehicle using one of her limbs. According to the complaint, she was unconscious for more than five minutes, an indication of a severe concussion.

When paramedics and supervisors came, McCambell began telling them that Porter had been knocked out for just 20 seconds and had knocked herself out. He then informs his superiors that Porter struck herself in the head and stomach, resulting in her own injuries, prior to striking McCambell in the face.

According to the complaint, McCambell was never struck in the face. Additionally, Porter requested to be taken to a hospital for treatment of her injuries, complaining of headaches and stomach problems but was instead sent to a prison cell.

“Deputies McCampbell and McDowell rejected the request, continuing to mislead paramedics by downplaying the attack and injuries inflicted on Ms. Porter,” the court petition said.

Her two daughters and niece were in the backseat of their SUV, watching all of this happen.

Porter was then placed in a cage and charged with resisting arrest. However, she was freed the next day because authorities lacked evidence to support the accusation.

Porter has now retained attorney Yasin Almadani, who filed a complaint alleging the officers of breaching state and federal civil rights laws via the use of "unlawful seizure, assault, and excessive force."

Almadani attributes Porter's speedy exoneration to the body camera video.

“Fortunately, video footage refuted the falsified facts,” Almadani said. “Therefore, we think that what happened here was a racially motivated beating and intimidation of a Black family.”

Indeed, terrifying.