Columbus paying $210k to settle lawsuit accusing police of excessive force, false arrest
The city of Columbus will pay $210,000 to settle a federal lawsuit with a woman who accused two police officers of using excessive force and arresting her with no reason while she was looking for her kids.
The Columbus City Council voted at its meeting on June 9 to approve the settlement with Simmons and a second, unrelated settlement.
Sierra Simmons, a Columbus City Schools teacher, alleged in a civil rights lawsuit in U.S. District Court that city police officer Randall Beam and Sgt. Chase Rogers were wrong to arrest her. Simmons also said in the suit that her face was cut when Beam swept her legs and took her to the ground.
Simmons was attempting to pick up her 17-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter from her sister's home when she encountered the police officers, according to her suit. Simmons' son had called her to say they wanted to be picked up because their aunt, Simmons' sister, was arguing with a neighbor.
Beam and Rogers were investigating a reported stabbing, according to Brian Shinn, deputy chief of staff in the Columbus City Attorney's office. Shinn said during the council meeting that Simmons' sister was a suspect in the stabbing incident.
When Simmons arrived at the house, she saw flashing lights on police cruisers and rushed to her sister's front porch, according to her lawsuit. The two officers demanded that Simmons get off the porch while she asked the officers and others where her kids were, the lawsuit stated.
Shinn said that Simmons retreated down some steps, but not all the way down, and resisted the officers verbally and physically.
After keeping her in a hot cruiser for an hour, police eventually released her with a summons to appear on a misdemeanor charge for misconduct at an emergency, her suit says. City prosecutors ultimately dismissed the charge.
More City Hall news: Columbus City Councilmember Barroso de Padilla denounces ICE cruelty, promises to protest
In another settlement approved by the council, Columbus will pay $45,000 to Timothy Carreker, a driver injured in 2022 by a city Division of Fire emergency vehicle on the West Side, according to court records.
Carreker's lawsuit, filed in Franklin County Common Pleas Court, charges that a city fire ambulance went the wrong way down a one-way street into an intersection and struck the side of Carreker's vehicle.
Shinn said that the city is generally immune when it comes to emergency medical situations, but the City Attorney's office was concerned a jury might find this was wanton behavior.
Government and Politics Reporter Jordan Laird can be reached at jlaird@dispatch.com. Follow her on X, Instagram and Bluesky at @LairdWrites.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus settles two lawsuits involving police force, ambulance
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