Nakia Porter, a Black software engineer in California, filed a lawsuit against Solano County deputies on Wednesday, saying that she was knocked unconscious and arrested by two officers last year.

Porter said she pulled off on the side of a road to change seats with her father so that he could drive. The engineer, who was returning home to Sacramento after meeting a fellow dance instructor in Oakland, encountered the officers on a rural road in the town of Dixon on Aug. 6, 2020.

The California mother was traveling with her father, as well as two daughters, ages 4 and 6, and her 3-year-old niece when the incident unfolded, KTVU reported. Bodycam footage shows officers confronting Porter as she stopped on the side of the road and exited the vehicle to switch seats with her father. Police said they stopped the car because they noticed that it had a California plate on the back and a Maryland plate on the front. In her lawsuit, the Sacramento resident said she recently moved from Maryland and simply forgot to take the front plate of her vehicle.

"The deputies had called in the rear license plate to their dispatch and knew that it matched the description of the car and that there was no report of the car being stolen," the complaint states.

The video shows officers ordering Porter to go back to the driver's side as she made her way to the passenger seat. In the following sequence seen in the footage, one of the deputies, who was pointing a gun, tells the mother to put her hands behind her head. As multiple officers proceeded to wrestle with her, Porter can be heard saying that she is not resisting arrest.

"They are approaching me and putting me in the car with force," she said in the footage. "Those that are listening, I'm not resisting arrest."

As she was being dragged by police, the 33-year-old woman asked why she is being pulled away from her car. The confrontation escalated as officers became more aggressive with the 5'2," 125-pound mother, yelling at her to get on the ground.

"I think she’s out," one of the officers said as the women suddenly fell silent.

Porter said she fell unconscious for about five minutes and she was dragged unconscious to the back of the squad car. The software engineer then requested to be transported to a hospital, according to the lawsuit.

"Deputies McCampbell and McDowell denied the request, continuing to lie to the paramedics by minimizing the assault and the injuries they had inflicted on Ms. Porter," the complaint states.

According to ABC 10, the Sacramento resident was jailed overnight on suspicion of resisting arrest. However, she was never charged.

Porter, who named officers Dalton McCampbell and Lisa McDowell in the lawsuit, said the deputies lied on their arrest reports about Porter fighting them and the length of time she was unconscious. The plaintiff also named a superior officer who signed off on the reports.

"What’s concerning here is the use of force," said Cedric Alexander, a former president of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives. "There needs to be a full investigation conducted outside of the sheriff’s department, preferably by a district attorney’s office."

Solano County

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