San Bernardino Woman Files Lawsuit Against City and Police after Being Taken Down by Officer

Lawsuit Filed Following Arrest of San Bernardino Minor

A young woman has initiated legal action against the city of San Bernardino, as well as two police officers, after a controversial arrest last year left her with significant injuries. Erin Cowser, now 18, was just 17 when the incident occurred on May 21, 2022, prompting her attorneys to file the lawsuit on her behalf.

According to the complaint, police officers were dispatched to the Food 4 Less grocery store following reports of a fight involving minors. The lawsuit alleges that Officer Jackson Tubbs approached Cowser, grabbed her by her backpack, and forcefully threw her to the ground. This altercation was captured on both a cellphone and the body camera of Officer Cynthia Guillen.

Toni Jaramillo, one of Cowser’s attorneys, described the incident: “A hip toss that flipped Erin in the air, her legs flying over her head, and she landed face-first, head-first on the concrete.” Jaramillo emphasized the severity of the situation, noting that Cowser was handcuffed at the time, leaving her unable to brace herself during the fall.

Cowser maintains that her actions did not warrant such a response from law enforcement. She recounted being in the grocery store with friends when they were confronted by another group of young people. As she attempted to exit the store, Tubbs reportedly approached her directly.

In her statement, Cowser described feeling a tug on her backpack and attempting to remove it when the officers moved to handcuff her. “Then he told me, he was like, ‘Stop resisting,’ and that was the last thing I remember,” she said. “Then I woke up, I was in the back of the cop car on the freeway. And I looked down, and I seen a bunch of blood on my body, and my chin was still leaking. And he had my phone in his hand, and I looked up and I asked him, ‘What happened to me? Like, what’d you do to me?’ He was like, ‘You fell.’ And then it went black again.”

While Tubbs later claimed Cowser’s injuries were a result of the altercation with the group inside the store, the body camera footage provided by her attorneys indicates she did not appear to be injured prior to her contact with Tubbs.

The lawsuit does not specify the amount of damages being sought from the city and the police officers. Both the city of San Bernardino and its police department have declined to comment on the case, citing ongoing litigation.