A Street Sense vendor who uses a wheelchair has sued two Metro Transit Police officers, claiming they violated his constitutional rights during a May 19, 2011, arrest near the U Street Metro station.
The incident, which was captured on YouTube and drew wide attention, showed the officers lifting or pushing the vendor, Dwight Harris, who then toppled from his wheelchair and hit the pavement face first.
According to Harris, the confrontation occurred as he was about to start his shift selling the newspaper. The officers asked Harris about the contents of his covered McDonald’s paper cup and Harris said he responded by reaching into his pocket for his Street Sense vendor ID. Harris said he did not try to
attack the officers, yet the officers still pushed him to the ground before hand-cuffing him and arresting him for drinking in public and resisting arrest.
Harris’ suit, filed in United States District Court for the District of Columbia, claims the two officers violated his rights by grabbing him without provocation. The suit for false arrest and battery contends that the latter act “was so outrageous in character and extreme in degree as to go beyond all possible bounds of decency, and to be regarded as atrocious and utterly intolerable in a civilized community.”
Harris said he blacked out and suffered cuts as a result of the fall.
