RIO VISTA, Calif. — A mother is calling for answers after cell phone video shows her adult daughter getting body slammed Sunday by a Rio Vista Police Officer during a traffic stop.
Deshaunna Payne, 47, said her daughter Cherish Thomas, 31, was recording two Rio Vista Police officers after they pulled over and detained her sister, Mea Thomas while driving.
Mea, 25, was pulled over near the intersection of Church and Harris Roads by for allegedly driving a car with suspended registration for the last two years, according to police. Officers said she told them they could not tow the car, and she refused to get out of the vehicle.
Mea called her mother to tell her she was pulled over and officers were trying to tow her car.
“A lot of the officers here are familiar with me," Payne said. "Whenever my kids get pulled over, I come. I want to know what’s going on... I want to see everything.”
When Payne arrived, she said she and Cherish began questioning the officers and filming them with their cellphones. When Cherish approached the officers they told her to return to the car she came in with her mother, according to the Rio Vista Police Department. Officers threatened to arrest her if she didn't comply. When she didn't follow their instructions, officers attempted to detain Cherish and Payne.
Cherish was body slammed by a police officer and arrested. Payne captured the forceful arrest on cellphone video, before she was also arrested.
Payne said Cherish has two black eyes, and bruising and scrapes to her face and one of her legs.
“I would like to know what was his problem with two women asking questions that you were so violent," Payne said. "That you felt you needed to be physical. You needed to slam her to the ground. That just didn’t make no sense to me."
The department tells a different story about what transpired.
Rio Vista Police Chief Dan Dailey told ABC10 in a statement that the officers repeatedly asked the women to return to their vehicle, that they attempted to push past the officers after interfering with a traffic stop.
“As Cherish continued to resist and refused to comply, the officer tackled her to the ground in order to gain control of her while his partner stepped in to take Deshaunna Payne into custody,” Dailey said.
Both Thomas and Payne were arrested for delaying of obstructing an investigation and resisting arrest, Dailey said in a statement. He said Cherish is also being charged with public intoxication.
Payne contends that the situation could have been avoided and she believes officers used an excessive amount of force. She is asking for an apology from both of the officers who responded to the incident.
“An internal investigation into the use of force will be conducted, which is standard procedure in a use of force incident such as this,” Dailey said.
He said the Rio Vista Police Department plans to release body camera footage from both responding officers this week.
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