Baltimore city’s Board of Estimates agreed to pay $95,000 to Christine Abbott, who filed a lawsuit alleging that, in 2012, she was arrested in Hampden and placed in a police van without restraints and given a “rough ride,” a practice that came under scrutiny after the death of Freddie Gray in police custody.
A year ago, City Paper, where Abbott has worked as a freelance photographer, included her case in a feature that detailed some of the more than 100 lawsuits involving police brutality or other civil rights violations that the city has settled in recent years. It includes the following description of Abbot’s suit:
“BPD officer Lee Grishkot admits that he threw Christine Abbott into a police transport van in handcuffs and gave her a rough ride. She claims officers also refused to allow her to cover her exposed breasts.
“At that point, Abbott claims, the officers “grabbed” her and “threw her to the ground,” causing her “dress to go up over her back, revealing her underwear” and her shoulder to be “cut and bleeding.” When the officers stood her up, her “dress was ripped” and her “breasts were exposed,” yet they “refused to allow” Abbott to “pull up her dress or otherwise conceal her breasts.” They then handcuffed her and put her in a police transport van, but “did not strap or harness her in the back” of the van, which they “maniacally drove” to the police station, “thereby tossing” Abbott “around the interior of the van,” causing “further injuries.””