A woman is suing the police department after an officer entered her home and handcuffed her while she was wearing nothing but a towel.
A woman is suing her local police department after an officer handcuffed her inside her home while she was wearing nothing but a towel.
The dramatic scene was recorded by Esmeralda Rossi's 15-year-old daughter after officers entered their kitchen in Chandler, Arizona in March.
Rossi says police came to her home after she had an altercation with her ex-husband at a location nearby.
She said she was in the shower when the officers arrived and asked them to wait at the door, but she said they followed her inside. Through tears, you can hear the desperation in Rossi’s voice in footage of the incident.
“Please cover me, cover me, cover me,” she’s heard saying.
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She recounted the ordeal to INSIDE EDITION.
"He gets both my hands right here," Rossi said, pointing to her kitchen counter. "My towel drops. He cuffs me and then he turns me around."
The officer had her stand in the middle of her kitchen, and then he stepped back, she said.
In the footage, an officer can be heard saying: “You have absolutely no clothes on?”
Rossi's daughter screamed that her mother's just gotten out of the shower.
Also in the footage, a cop can be heard saying: “You could spend the night in jail. Do you understand that?”
“Yeah, I got it,” she said. "I heard you the first time, I'm not dumb."
“Do you want to go to jail tonight? I am asking you,” asked the cop.
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“I don't need to answer that. You asking me if I want to go to jail has nothing to do with this conversation,” she said.
Officer Doug Rose then launched into a lecture.
“Don’t take that attitude with cops because we don’t play. When a cop shows up, you're not the one in charge. I don't care if it is your house. You understand me?” he said.
In the video, Officer Rose has a change of heart and decides he won't place the woman under arrest.
“I would get an attorney as soon as possible,” he said.
She certainly took that advice and is now suing. She was not charged with a crime following the incident.
"There is no doubt that the officers crossed the line in this case. When we watched the video, we were shocked. We were blown away," said her attorney.
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