Arkansas trooper threw teen down and punched her in face during traffic stop, lawsuit says

An 18-year-old Black woman filed a lawsuit this week against an Arkansas State Police trooper she said “slammed her to the ground and struck her in the face” during a traffic stop.

Alisa Hackett filed a federal lawsuit Monday against Trooper Moisses Arellano over an incident that took place on Aug. 1 .

According to the lawsuit, Hackett posed no threat to anyone and was unarmed. She was suspected of, at most, a minor traffic offense when she was stopped in Mississippi County, Arkansas, by Arellano, the suit said.

“Arellano struck her because she talked back to him — because she questioned him, objected to what he was doing, and declined to be silent while he did it,” the lawsuit said. “A closed-fist blow to the face of an unarmed eighteen-year-old girl is not a permissible answer to speech, and it is not a permissible answer to a detainee who pulls her arm away during handcuffing.”

The Arkansas State Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment. NBC News was not able to reach Arellano for comment.

According to the lawsuit, the trooper’s use-of-force report indicated that he struck Hackett’s face.

“After giving multiple commands for her to roll over without compliance, I delivered one closed-fist strike to the left side of her face in an attempt to gain compliance,” Arellano wrote in the incident report, according to CBS News . “After the strike, she continued resisting by pulling her wrists away and refusing to roll over.”

Attorney Benjamin Crump is representing Hackett and calling for a use-of-force investigation. Crump said Hackett was booked at 12:51 a.m. on Aug. 2 in Mississippi County jail on five charges: improper display of tags, a restriction on vehicle lamps, no seat belt, purchase or possession of alcohol by a minor, and refusal to submit to arrest.

The lawsuit accuses Arellano of then starting a “criminal process in motion against Ms. Hackett in order to shield himself from discipline and civil liability, to lend after-the-fact color to his use of force, and to deter Ms. Hackett from complaining about what he had done to her.”

“Arkansas State Police have to explain to the public how that is a reasonable response to a teenager at a traffic stop,” Crump said in a statement. “If you cannot handle a teenage girl without taking her to the ground, cursing at her, and punching her in the face, you should not be wearing a badge.”

The trooper’s use-of-force report said he stopped Hackett when she was driving 71 mph in a 60 mph zone, according to local outlet NEA Report. Hackett told the trooper that her car’s window was broken and she was trying to get home, the outlet said, citing the trooper’s report.

Arellano wrote that Hackett became argumentative, threw a clipboard at him and resisted when he attempted to put handcuffs on her, according to NEA Report.

Daniella Silva Daniella Silva is a national reporter for NBC News, focusing on immigration.