Woman claims PD's use of pepper spray excessive

An excessive force lawsuit against the Metro Nashville Police Department, which arose after a Nashville woman was pepper sprayed during a 2005 traffic stop, has been transferred to federal court. Janine Bilyeu sued the Metro Police Department last month, alleging she was the victim of excessive force after Metro Officer Phillip Shuler pulled her over for "not [stopping] completely at a stop sign" and proceeded to use pepper spray to subdue her after believing her license was suspended. The civil suit was filed in Davidson County Circuit Court in June, but was transferred to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee last week.

According to Bilyeu's complaint, on June 17, 2005, she was pulled over and immediately ordered out of her car by Officer Shuler.

"[Shuler] claimed that [Bilyeu's] license was suspended, and that he would have to arrest her," Bilyeu's complaint reads.

"[Bilyeu's] license was not suspended. [Bilyeu], knowing that her license was not suspended, asked [Shuler] if she could retrieve proof that her license was not suspended from her glove compartment. [Shuler], apparently angered by this, sprayed chemical spray into [Bilyeu's] eyes and face," her complaint continued.

"Despite [Bilyeu's] lack of resistance, [Shuler] handcuffed Plaintiff, arrested her, and took her to jail. While on the way to jail, [Shuler] repeatedly cursed [Bilyeu] and called her `stupid,'" said the complaint. "The above incident was captured entirely on Defendant Officer's video camera inside his patrol car."

Patrick Frogge, who is representing Bilyeu, said he has yet to see the video of the arrest, but has requested it from Metro, and filed a motion to have the tape preserved at all costs. "I will get the videotape as part of civil discovery," Frogge said. "We've also filed a motion to preserve the video, and the court granted that motion."

Frogge said the tape is critical to garnering a complete understanding of what happened, but also for what did not happen. "Following [Shuler's] attack," Frogge wrote on behalf of his client, "[Shuler] swore out a warrant against [Bilyeu], alleging resisting arrest. After viewing the videotape of the incident, a representative of the Davidson County District Attorney's Office dismissed the resisting arrest charge. The dismissal was the final determination of that charge."

Rita Roberts-Turner, Metro's attorney representing the Police Department in this case, acknowledged that the videotape exists, but declined to comment on specifics of the lawsuit. "We just got the case moved to federal court and I am in the process of responding to the complaint, Roberts-Turner said. "That's where we are procedurally right now, so there's not really a lot I can tell you about the facts."

But Roberts-Turner did say that Shuler was not disciplined or placed on leave as a result of the arrest. "The officer has not been disciplined by the department and his actions were deemed to be appropriate," she said. Bilyeu is seeking compensatory damages of an unspecified amount.

"The nightmare of this case, to me, is that this woman was pulled over for rolling through a stop sign - which all of us have done at one time or another - and found herself pepper sprayed and handcuffed and in jail, because the police department made a mistake about her license being suspended," Frogge said. "But even if it were suspended, for it to rise to this level is just unbelievable."

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