Make money doing the work you believe in
BREAKING: Decorated Iraq War veteran sues after Trump goons brutally tackled and handcuffed her on her OWN FRONT PORCH!!!
A decorated U.S. Army veteran who earned a Bronze Star and Purple Heart in Iraq is suing the Idaho National Guard and the Defense Department after Idaho-based Guard troops allegedly detained her without a warrant, tackled her on the front porch of her Washington, D.C., home and left her with injuries that required surgery.
Anna King says she was sitting outside her apartment on May 8 beneath signs criticizing Donald Trump's deployment of troops to the nation's capital when three National Guardsmen walked through her front gate and told her she was being detained.
"Get away from me right now. You have absolutely no authority to detain me," King can be heard telling the troops in a video of the confrontation.
When she tried to return to her apartment, the troops blocked her path. Video shows the confrontation escalating before two Guardsmen wrestled her to the ground, pinned her to the concrete and restrained her with plastic handcuffs while waiting for D.C. police to arrive.
According to a claim filed Wednesday by the ACLU of D.C., King remained handcuffed on the ground for about 17 minutes. The restraints were so tight that officers later struggled to remove them, and King ultimately suffered ligament damage requiring surgery, the complaint says.
More than two months later, she says she still wears a cast, has limited feeling in her thumb and struggles with everyday tasks.
King, who has been treated for combat-related PTSD since returning from Iraq, also says the encounter revived severe trauma.
"As a trained combat veteran, I never imagined that armed National Guard members would attack, injure and traumatize me at my home," she said. "We are not at war with Americans, and my porch is not a war zone."
The National Guard says troops detained King because they believed she had thrown an unknown liquid at guardsmen two days earlier.
King had not been charged in connection with that allegation when she was detained and has never been charged over it. She has pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor charges alleging she assaulted two Guardsmen during the confrontation.
King is seeking $3 million in damages, arguing that troops violated her constitutional rights and used excessive force.
The ACLU says King's claim is one of dozens alleging abuses by federal officers around the country, which raises the issue of whether military personnel performing roles traditionally handled by civilian law enforcement is effective or appropriate. We don’t think so.
King says she still struggles to use her hand, still lives with renewed PTSD, and still remembers the feeling of soldiers holding her face down outside her own patio.
For a woman who once risked her life wearing the uniform, she says the hardest encounter with armed troops happened after she came home.
