HOUSTON -- A retired Houston school teacher is suing the Houston Police Department, saying she was the victim of police brutality.
Tillian Thomas, who turned 75 last month, said she's still in pain and must wear a neck brace because of the incident three months ago.
Thomas said she was driving home from church when a police officer stopped her for speeding near Cullen and Orem in South Houston.
The officer allowed Thomas to retrieve her purse from the trunk of her Mercedes so she could show him her driver's license.
That's when things got ugly, according to Thomas.
"He started twisting on my arms and twisting on my arms," she said.
Thomas said the officer handcuffed her, pinned her down, put his knee in her neck and chest, dragged her across the ground and threw her on the floor of his patrol car.
She said the officer ransacked her car while she spent the night and a full day in jail and several hours at the hospital.
"When you're a big person and you've got a 74-year-old woman on the ground with your knees on her neck and on her chest there's issues," said Jason Gibson, Tillian's lawyer."That's excessive force, no doubt about it."
Thomas said the incident has shaken her belief in police officers.
"I know there's good people and bad people in all walk of life. Now I do. But I didn't know that then," Thomas said.
And she is now rethinking what she always told her students.
"I told them to respect the policemen because they were their best friend," Thomas said. "That's what I thought. I thought that all my life."
The 100-pound grandmother was charged with resisting arrest, but the charges were dropped.
The lawsuit filed Friday cites "excessive, unnecessary and unreasonable force."
HPD said they can't comment since they have not seen the lawsuit yet.
