East Haven Police Department Hit With Civil Right Lawsuit

The town and eight East Haven police officers are being sued for allegedly violating the civil rights of a then eight month pregnant woman who claims she was pulled over by police and removed from a car at gunpoint, the New Haven Register reports.

Dominique Cash, of New Haven, recently filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court.

In the suit, she claims she was removed from the car at gunpoint and questioned by police for 40 minutes. She also claims in the suit that cops crashed their cruisers into her vehicle and that was tantamount to excessive force.

East Haven police ventured into New Haven in the 2013 incident because Cash, who was not a suspect, was driving a vehicle owned by the suspect in a purse snatching complaint involving an East Haven police officer’s mother.

An internal investigation by the Police Department concluded that the officers’ unconstitutionally detained Cash, the Register reports.

One police officer has been hit with criminal charges over the alleged incident.

Read the full New Haven Register story here.