MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) - A protester says a state trooper bent her arm so badly behind her back as he tried to remove her from a demonstration that the pain lasted for a year after.
Shela Linton filed a civil rights violation complaint Friday against Vermont State Police seeking money and an apology.
The Brattleboro Reformer reports Linton was one of 29 demonstrators arrested during a sit-in at then Gov. Peter Shumlin’s inauguration when they refused to leave the building after closing. The demonstrators were calling for a single payer health care system debate.
Linton says she believes the trooper bent her arm because she’s black. She wants an apology, an investigation into the trooper and $500,000 for the pain and medical and legal bills she’s incurred.
The state police refused to comment Wednesday.
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