Woman filing civil lawsuit against LVMPD after controversial arrest

    LAS VEGAS (KTNV) -- A woman found not guilty of assaulting a Las Vegas police officer in 2023 is now planning to sue Metro.

This all stems from an incident that happened on Sept. 11, 2023.

Verlonicia Carr was visiting Las Vegas from Kansas. After being kicked out from Circus Circus after a night out, she approached a kiosk near the Las Vegas Community Center to file a complaint about the alleged mistreatment from casino security staff.

According to a police report, Carr was screaming that people don't allow her into businesses because of the way she talks.

"The female stated 'it's all y'all's fault to allow people to get intoxicated, get kicked out, and put us on a bus stop," the report claims Carr said. "Y'all racist! It's all y'all's fault I get kicked out of Circus Circus."

A female officer asked Carr for her identification. While handing the officer her ID, the report states a sharp, pointy comb fell out of her bag onto the ground.

When the officer told Carr that the casino was a private business and has the right to ask anyone to leave, the report states Carr became upset, grabbed the comb, and pointed the sharp end one inch from the officer's face.

That led to a struggle between Carr and the officer. The report states the officer was afraid she would be stabbed, bear-hugged Carr, and pushed her into the kiosk wall. As the officer requested backup through her radio, Carr was accused of grabbing the back of the officer's head and pulling her hair.

The report states that's when the officer took Carr to the ground and the two began punching each other. Carr then allegedly bit the officer in the arm and when the officer rolled Carr over, she allegedly said "I can't breathe." As other officers arrived at the scene to take her into custody, the report states Carr went limp "attempting to portray that she was either passed out or dead."

However, Carr's attorneys paint a different picture stating that nearby surveillance footage disputes the account by showing the officer aggressively engaging with Carr. That includes being forcibly slammed into a wall and punched multiple times while she was on the ground, even after Carr stopped resisting.

Carr originally faced three charges:

Assault with a Deadly Weapon Battery on a Protected Person Resisting a Public Officer with a Deadly Weapon, Not a Firearm Her attorneys tell me that two of the three charges were dropped by the District Attorney's Office.

Carr was still facing the Battery on a Protected Person charge when her trial began last week. A jury found her not guilty on Friday.

"While we are grateful that the jury saw through part of the narrative presented by the prosecution, we remain deeply disturbed by the excessive force used by law enforcement in this case," lead attorney Carl Arnold said after the verdict. "Our client — a petite woman, unarmed and alone — was brutalized for asking to file a complaint. The system failed her in more ways than one."

Arnold said that his firm, CEGA Law Group, will be filing a civil lawsuit against LVMPD and the involved officer for the use of excessive force, violation of civil rights, and emotional and physical harm.

"This was not policing. This was punishment," Arnold said. "We will pursue justice through all legal avenues available to us. We will not allow this kind of violent overreach to go unanswered."

I reached out to LVMPD to see if they had additional information on this incident and/or a statement about the verdict.

As of the time this story was originally published, we have not heard back.