A Black woman in Nashville, Tennessee, has filed a complaint against multiple officers with the Metro Nashville Police Department after she was handcuffed and detained just for being near the scene of an accident she was not involved in, outside of the fact that she was nearly hit by a car while on foot.
According to the lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, 39-year-old Sasha Palmer was on one of her daily walks on Nov. 15, 2023, when she witnessed a truck cross multiple lanes of traffic and crash right in front of her.
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“Initially, I thought the driver was having a medical emergency, but then they got out of the truck and ran,” Palmer told local news station WTVF.
Palmer then ran in the opposite direction, and, apparently, a single bystander, described in the lawsuit as a “random, unidentified white man,” saw her running and assumed she was also a passenger in the truck fleeing the scene of the accident, which is what he told the police sergeant, who had been informed multiple times by dispatchers and fellow officers that Palmer was not involved in the accident.
From WTVF:
Police were already in pursuit of what they later learned was a juvenile who had stolen the truck, but now they weren’t sure if the woman running the other way was also involved.
Officers cornered the juvenile driver, then asked those in the helicopter and reviewing surveillance video whether they had seen a woman exit the vehicle.
“Negative, I did not,” they responded.
Body camera footage from Sergeant Michael Swoner captured radio traffic confirming that no one had seen a female leave the truck. Then, a man driving a white van spoke up, saying, “Your suspect is going to be a heavy-set Black female with an afro.”
By that time, Officer Holly Genualdi had already seen Palmer walking away but thought nothing of it because there were reportedly no other suspects. After Swoner relayed the witness’s claim, he directed his fellow officers to detain Palmer.
According to Atlanta Black Star, officers reviewing the surveillance footage told Swoner explicitly that “the female is not involved.”
“We played back the camera. The vehicle almost struck her,” an officer said.
As for the so-called witness, Swoner asked the “random, unidentified white man” which door Palmer had exited the stolen vehicle from, to which he responded, “I didn’t see, honestly.”
Somehow, none of this prompted Swoner to immediately order the officer detaining Palmer to let her go.
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