Lawsuit: Clovis Unified Police Officer Assaults Elderly Woman

Clovis Unified School District Police

Clovis Unified School District Police

Fresno, CA–

Mary Poole, 78, filed a lawsuit Monday claiming a Clovis Unified police officer left her with $180,000 worth of medical bills.

Mary was bringing baked treats to her granddaughters at Kastner Intermediate School when a Clovis Unified police officer told her she had to leave due to a court order.

“I hadn’t seen my granddaughters for some time and I wanted to see them, and so I baked some cupcakes and bought some cookies for my granddaughters’ classroom,” Poole told Abc30.

“He wouldn’t listen to anything I had to say, period,” said Poole. “Every time I tried telling him anything…I mean, I was even telling him, ‘I’m 78 years old,’ before he grabbed me. He sprayed me with mace twice.”

Poole initially left the campus, but claims she was pulled over near the school on First Street when the police officer grabbed her out of the car.

“And I was very frightened, and I told him to call the police and he said, ‘I am the police,'”

“He jerked me out of my car with my left arm with such great force, and then threw me onto the pavement. From there he dragged me by my left arm up to the school grounds,” she said.

According to court documents, Poole was pepper sprayed twice, suffered a dislocated shoulder, and a fracture.

The lawsuit claims everything from excessive force, assault, to elderly abuse and false arrest.

“The amount of force it took to inflict these injuries is testament to what happened that day,” said Mark Coleman, Poole’s attorney.

The lawsuit doesn’t specify a money amount.  The police officer is still employed by Clovis Unified.

2 Comments on "Lawsuit: Clovis Unified Police Officer Assaults Elderly Woman"

  1. Scares the crud out of me. I’m 79 and I go places alone at all hours of the day and night. Am I going to be assaulted too? Could happen. It has happened.

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