KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Raymore woman is suing the Kansas City Police Department for alleged excessive use of force by a pair of officers who she said threw her to the ground and injured her following a minor traffic collision in 2019, according to court documents.

The lawsuit — filed on behalf of Elizabeth O’Neal in U.S. District Court in Kansas City Aug. 15 — is seeking damages over the incident and names officers Joseph Herman and Thomas Kartman with KCPD as well as the board’s governing commissioners as defendants. It identifies nine counts, including excessive force, wrongful arrest and negligent training and supervision.

Police arrested O’Neal Aug. 16, 2019, following a vehicle collision at a Waldo intersection allegedly caused by O’Neal’s daughter, who was 17 years old at the time, according to the lawsuit.

Herman and Kartman responded to the scene, and they alleged O’Neal raised a clenched fist as if she were going to punch Kartman as she was removing her daughter from questioning. They then threw O’Neal to the ground face-first, the lawsuit alleges.

Both the woman and her daughter deny O’Neal made any aggressive move, attorneys contend in the lawsuit.

O’Neal was charged with obstructing or resisting a public safety officer and with assaulting a law enforcement officer, but prosecutors eventually dismissed the former charge and she was acquitted on the latter charge, according to the lawsuit.

Captain Jake Becchina, a KCPD spokesperson, declined to comment to The Star on the lawsuit Thursday, saying, “Generally we do not comment on pending litigation to ensure fairness for all sides involved.”

Herman and Kartman did not respond to The Star’s requests for comment.

‘Every right to refuse’

At the time of the crash, O’Neal was in the vehicle her daughter was driving. After the crash, she exchanged insurance information with the other driver and then went to a nearby parking lot to discuss the incident with them, the lawsuit said. There, the other driver and O’Neal called police, and O’Neal was reportedly told to make a report later.

Police responded to the area and contacted them at a nearby CVS, where O’Neal had gone to seek care at a clinic because her eye was bothering her.

The officers, Herman and Kartman, began to question the 17-year-old driver about the collision. O’Neal allegedly told them that because her daughter was a minor, she would not answer any questions and began to lead her away from police, according to the lawsuit.

Kartman then allegedly grabbed O’Neal’s wrist and arm, and Herman threw her to the ground, her attorneys alleged in the lawsuit, adding she was thrown to the asphalt face-first.

The force of being slammed to the ground caused “lacerations, scratches, bruising/contusion and glass and particles to get in her already problematic left eye,” the lawsuit said, adding that O’Neal’s injuries required “emergent and prolonged treatment.”

Kartman reported he told O’Neal and her daughter not to leave before he grabbed O’Neal’s wrist. He alleged she then “raised her right clenched fist, in an aggressive manner, above her shoulder” and said he thought she was going to punch him, according to a police report — written by another officer — included with the lawsuit.

Herman reported both he and Kartman used “open hand techniques to take O’Neal to the ground” after O’Neal turned and raised her arm with a clenched fist “in a fighting posture.” Kartman also alleged that O’Neal kicked him while she was on the ground.

Both O’Neal and her daughter contend she never physically retaliated or made a threatening gesture after Kartman grabbed her, according to the lawsuit.

O’Neal was arrested, and an officer began taking her to a police station for booking but stopped because she appeared to be in pain. She was then taken to a hospital, given a summons and released for treatment, an officer wrote in a report.

Her attorneys wrote that police attempted no deescalation of the situation, and noted that department policy for interviewing minors states that, “If the Juvenile Suspect wants to be interviewed but the parent/legal guardian does not want the juvenile suspect to be interviewed, the interview will be stopped.”

O’Neal had every right to refuse to allow her daughter to be interviewed by officers after her permit and insurance card were provided at the scene, the lawsuit stated. O’Neal is seeking an unspecified amount in damages, according to court documents.

O’Neal’s attorney, Edward Stump, did not respond to The Star’s request for comment.

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