Federal lawsuit seeks justice for woman assaulted by former Seattle police detective
A woman has filed a federal lawsuit alleging a former Seattle police officer used excessive force when he repeatedly slammed her head on the ground while arresting her without any probable cause during a concert.
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Alexa Cathcart suffered a concussion, cuts to her head, arms and legs and other injuries during the incident outside WaMu Theater at CenturyLink Field, which happened after her boyfriend had been ordered to leave.
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At one point, Ms. Cathcart found security guards beating her boyfriend with police batons. She urged them to stop. That’s when David Blackmer, who was moonlighting as concert security guard, grabbed her by the hair and bashed her head on the ground several times, shouting “Stop resisting!” — though she had not been resisting in any way.
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(Blackmer was later fired in disgrace from his job as a Seattle police officer after he was convicted of cyberstalking an ex-girlfriend).
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Ms. Cathcart’s lawsuit names several other defendants, including the City of Seattle, for failing to properly train Blackmer and another officer involved in the incident, and Seattle’s Finest Security and Traffic Control, which employed Blackmer and other security guards.
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