Several white police officers pulled over Stephanie Bottom during a 2019 traffic stop. The now 68-year-old librarian recently filed a federal lawsuit against the Salisbury, North Carolina police involved for what she believes to be a clear example of excessive force.
According to The Charlotte Observer, officers forced Bottom’s arm behind her back, injuring her wrist’s rotator cuffs. One officer also appeared to brag about yanking Bottom’s hair during the incident, allegedly saying that they were “grabbing a handful of dreads.”
Bottom was stopped by the Salisbury Police Department officers on May 30, 2019, while driving to her great aunt’s funeral for going 80 miles per hour in a 70 mph zone.
The Charlotte Observer reported that her music was loud and didn’t initially hear the police sirens following her. Soon after noticing, she pulled off to the side of a road where she could see other people. The woman told the publication that she wanted to be “somewhere safe where I’d be around lights and people.”
“I was getting ready to die.” 66-year-old librarian files federal lawsuit alleging NC police pulled her by hair and badly injured her during traffic stop. https://t.co/Qsxv3s0wKE
— Ames Alexander (@amesalex) April 22, 2021
The lawsuit allegedly contains body camera evidence of North Carolina Officer Devin Barkalow referring to Bottom with “several derogatory terms” before another officer used road spikes to stop Bottom’s vehicle. The elderly Black woman was then approached by Barkalow and Sheriff’s Deputy Mark Benfield, who both had their guns drawn. They then allegedly screamed at her to get out of her car, with not so much as a reason for the stop.
What happened next is unimaginable. Barkalow allegedly forced Bottom’s hand behind her back to the point that her wrist was near her neck area though she posed no threat. As a result, Bottom’s rotator cuff was torn and she had to have surgery to get it repaired.
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She claims that her injury is still not fully healed and that she cannot lift her left arm above her head.
Barkalow also talked about “grabbing a handful of dreads” during the brutal event and allegedly stated, “at that point, she earned it.”
Now, it looks like the boys in blue have earned themselves a federal lawsuit—no word yet on when the involved officers will be due in court.
