A Pittsburgh woman who said she was falsely arrested while she was peacefully protesting the death of George Floyd is suing the City of Pittsburgh and several police officers.

Kimberly Latta, 60, said in a federal lawsuit filed Friday that no warning to disperse was given before she was arrested on June 1 as she gathered with others in East Liberty.

“The criminal charges brought against Latta were baseless, without probable cause and were dismissed at the preliminary hearing stage,” the lawsuit said.

The defendants also include former Pittsburgh Officer Paul Abel and Lt. Thomas Gault as well as four officers who are unnamed.

Abel’s actions have been scrutinized repeatedly in the past. He was acquitted of charges filed following an incident in 2008 when his gun discharged as he allegedly pistol-whipped someone while he was off-duty. The city paid more than $40,000 to settle a lawsuit stemming from the incident.

A spokeswoman with the city said she could not comment on pending litigation.

According to the complaint, Latta wanted to join and “add her voice to and show her support for those protesting police violence against minorities and the continuing racism in the United States.”

She rode her bike down Highland Avenue to East Liberty just after 7 p.m. on June 1.

Latta alleges she saw an “overwhelming and militarized police presence” at the corner of Highland and Centre avenues, and when she tried to turn right onto Centre, a group of plain-clothed individuals and police officers stopped her.

One of those officers, the lawsuit said, pushed her with a shield.

Latta said in the complaint that she turned back and joined other protesters there and sat on the curb.

“As she sat peacefully on the ground, a police skirmish line moved toward Latta ‘like a wall of giants with plastic shields and strange orange shotguns,’” the lawsuit said.

It was then, she said, that officers deployed a noxious gas at the crowd, which caused her to be blinded, cough violently and be unable to breathe.

“Latta’s inability to breathe was so severe she feared that she might die from lack of oxygen,” the lawsuit said. “She lost control of her bodily functions.”

Latta said she was then “lifted and forcibly thrown face-down to the ground” by Abel and other officers.

Later, however, after she’d been told she was under arrest, Abel and another officer said she was not going to jail but would be sent a summons in the mail.

They allowed her to leave with her bicycle.

“Latta was so traumatized by her treatment at the hands of defendants that she wept all the way home and cried herself to sleep that night,” the lawsuit said. “She had uncontrolled bouts of weeping the next day.”

A criminal complaint charging Latta with failure to disperse, disorderly conduct and obstruction of highways was filed against her on June 26 — more than 10 days after she was interviewed in the media about her experience.

Although charges against a number of other protesters had been withdrawn by the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office in early June, the charges against Latta were not, the lawsuit said. She alleges they were not withdrawn out of retaliation for telling her story publicly.

At preliminary hearing on Aug. 5, a district judge threw the charges out.

The lawsuit includes claims for excessive force; false arrest; malicious prosecution; violation of her First Amendment right to free speech and peaceably assemble; and retaliation. It also accuses the city of failing to properly train and supervise its officers.

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)