Black Woman Sues Nashville Cops Who Falsley Detained Her After She Was Nearly Hit By Truck
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.
“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.
Here’s what police body camera footage showed, according to Atlanta Black Star:
Metro Nashville police officer Holly Genualdi tracked Palmer down as she was walking on a sidewalk, looking at her phone. Genualdi ordered her to place her hands behind her back, telling her she was being detained “because you were close to the scene.”
“Are you kidding me?” Palmer responded. “ I don’t know him. This is so f-cking embarrassing. What am I being detained for?”
“I didn’t do anything,” insisted Palmer, who had never been arrested before in her life. “He almost hit me.”
Palmer then began crying as Genualdi began escorting the handcuffed Black woman to her patrol car.
“Why are you arresting me?” she said through tears.
Metro Nashville police officer Charles Agius then walked up and began rummaging through Palmer’s purse, finding her legally owned handgun, which she carried for protection on her walks.
However, Palmer yelled from inside the patrol car that she did not consent to the cops searching her purse.
Eventually, all the officers agreed a mistake had been made and Palmer was released from custody, but not before Swoner arrived at the scene and offered her an explanation for her detainment that an objective person might call a blatant lie.
“The reason you were stopped is because everybody was telling us that you got out of the truck, too,” Swoner reportedly told Palmer.
Yeah — “everybody” didn’t tell him that.
Outside of the one witness, who later admitted he only saw Palmer running, not exiting the vehicle, every single person reviewing footage of the crash told Swoner unequivocally that Palmer was not involved in the wreck and that she had almost been struck herself. Swoner apparently made the decision not to relay that information to the officers detaining Palmer for no discernible reason whatsoever.
Look, the whole ordeal only lasted roughly 12 minutes, and afterwards, officers drove Palmer home and returned her gun, but that doesn’t change the fact that she was wrongfully detained and handcuffed, that she was held well after the information that she was innocent had been made readily available, and that the commanding officer lied so casually while cop-splaining why she was detained.
“I used to love walking outside. I would go every day. I don’t walk outside anymore. I have to go to counseling, and I have PTSD,” Palmer told WTVF.
Palmer’s lawsuit names Swoner, who has since retired from the force, and officer Genualdi, and a third officer, Charles Agius, as defendants, accusing them of violating her Second and Fourth Amendment rights by illegally detaining and searching her and refusing to return her gun until after they had taken her home, as well as false arrest and racial discrimination.
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