A bicyclist is suing a San Diego police officer for excessive force after a traffic stop in Torrey Pines State Beach.
Charles Goodsell, 64, was stopped by Officer Erik Pollock in February for supposedly failing to stop at a stop sign.
Goodsell was biking in the area, which he called a “customary Sunday morning bike ride.”
Pollock asked to see Goodsell’s driver’s license, which Goodsell didn’t have on him, according to the suit.
The officer then asked Goodsell to set his bike on the ground. Goodsell initially refused because the “bike was very expensive and he said he did not want to put it on the ground,” according to the suit.
In Pollock’s police report, he said Goodsell then angrily threw his bike across the street before lying down.
The bicyclist spread out his arms and legs while on the ground.
Local
“I was quite scared that this was a very aggressive or bellicose individual, and I did not want to cross him in any way,” Goodsell told NBC 7.
Pollock said Goodsell may have been under the influence of a controlled substance, according to his report.
The officer asked the bicyclist to get off the ground.
Goodsell alleges the officer choked him while handcuffing him.
“I thought he was going to rip both of my arms off, and he put the handcuffs on tight enough to injure both of my wrists,” Goodsell said.
Goodsell was taken to Palomar Hospital in Poway for a mental evaluation. He was released within an hour and a half, according to the suit.
His wife then took him to a La Jolla emergency room. Goodsell had a sprained forearm and a neck contusion, according to x-rays taken by the University of California, San Diego Emergency Department.
Goodsell filed a claim against the city on April 20 but was denied.
Now in a lawsuit, he alleges excessive force and false arrest.
SDPD said it can’t comment on pending litigation.
