FRESNO, Calif. (CN) - A woman can pursue punitive damages for an incident in which Fresno police officers allegedly manhandled her and arrested her for loitering at a popular after-school hangout when she was 15, a federal judge ruled.
U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence O'Neill found that it remains to be seen whether the officers acted maliciously toward Idalia Morgutia-Johnson, so she can continue to seek punitive damages.
Johnson was a 15-year-old student at Hoover High School when the incident occurred on Aug. 24, 2010. That day, she and a group of Hoover students were at Big Mama's, a restaurant near the high school.
Big Mama's was a popular hangout for high school students, but the students often caused trouble - including breaking out in fights - which meant that employees frequently had to call the police.
The restaurant ended up instituting a "no loitering policy," and only permitted students if they purchased something and were actually eating. Otherwise, they would be asked to leave.
The day before the incident, restaurant manager Ebrahim Hussein met with Fresno Sergeant Larry Hustedde to discuss the problems he was having with the high school students loitering at Big Mama's after school. Hustedde told Hussein he would help him enforce the restaurant's no loitering policy.
The next day, Johnson and her friends went to Big Mama's and were standing in the patio area when Hustedde asked them to either go inside or leave. The students went inside, but what happened next is a matter of dispute between the parties.
Johnson says that her friend offered to place their food order, so she sat down at a booth with her friends while waiting for her food. Hustedde allegedly came up and told her that she'd been there too long and it was time for her to go.
The woman says that she told the sergeant that she was waiting for her food, and showed him her friend's receipt.
In response, the sergeant allegedly grabbed Johnson by her arm and yanked her out of the booth, slammed her onto the table and twisted her arm behind her back. He then pulled Johnson back up and used her body to shove open the front door, she says.
Once outside, Hustedde slammed Johnson onto the trunk of his patrol car, causing her to fall to the ground, she claims.
Hustedde then reached down and pulled Johnson off the ground by her pony tail and arm, wrapped his arms around her in a tight bear-hug hold. He released Johnson from the hold and held her by the right arm. As he reached down to pick up his sunglasses, Johnson was suddenly placed in a chokehold from behind by Officer Jeffrey Kaiser, who had just arrived on the scene, she says.
"Plaintiff had difficulty breathing due to the chokehold, so she 'used her hands to try to get Kaiser to loosen the pressure around her neck because she was suffocating.' Plaintiff heard Hustedde tell Kaiser to let her go because she was choking, but 'instead of letting go Kaiser put his hand over her mouth and nose,' which felt like he was choking her harder," according to the judge's recap.
The next thing Johnson says she remembered was sitting in a patrol car and having difficulty breathing. The officers allegedly ignored pleas by Johnson's friends to leave the door open and get her help.