Jail sergeant Judith L. Sealey told her to stop causing a disturbance or she would be pepper sprayed. When Swink continued being belligerent, Sealey introduced pepper spray into her cell. Contrary to policy, that incident was not video recorded.
Swink, who was intoxicated, refused to step out when asked to do so by police. A scuffle ensued in which Swink was taken to the ground and handcuffed, and a police officer’s glasses were broken. Swink was booked into the Montgomery County jail, where she screamed and banged on the window of her holding cell.
Sealey then went to her cell and sprayed her face and body with a can of pepper spray, causing Swink to pass out. A medic summoned to the cell encountered an unconscious, fully-restrained Swink. He tried to wake her and cleaned some of the pepper spray from her face, then left her strapped in the chair. Sealey did not file use of force reports ...
According to court documents, Swink suffered disfiguring, debilitating and permanent injuries from the pepper spraying, which required her to seek medical treatment and caused psychological trauma. Brannon gave a surveillance video recording of Swink being pepper sprayed in the restraint chair to the news media.
Amber Swink was 24 years old when police received a domestic disturbance call at a residence where she and her boyfriend were present.
Sealey did not file use of force reports for the two pepper-spraying incidents.
On Nov. 15, 2015, plaintiff Amber Swink, 24, was approached by local police at a home located on Sulphur Springs Road in Brookville. The officers arrived at the home in response to a domestic disturbance call and found Swink arguing with her boyfriend while intoxicated. An altercation allegedly ensued between Swink and one of the responding officers and Swink was placed under arrest. She was subsequently transported to the Montgomery County Jail in Dayton. Swink claimed that the events that took place while she was in custody caused psychological injury. Swink sued the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners, Captain Sealy, Sealy’s supervisor Captain Chuck Crosby and Montgomery County Sheriff Phil Plummer. Swink alleged that the conduct of the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department was in violation of her civil rights under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Swink was arrested after she allegedly assaulted one of the responding officers and broke the officer’s glasses. However, Swink denied becoming violent, maintaining that the responding officer’s glasses fell off of his face and broke on the ground While in custody, Swink was placed in a restraint chair for over an hour after allegedly becoming violent and belligerent. At this time, Swink said she was sprayed in the face with pepper spray by then-Lieutenant Judith Sealy after Swink allegedly refused to stop screaming. Swink argued that Sealy’s use of pepper spray on a restrained person constituted excessive force. The defendants issued a general denial of liability.
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Swink did not receive medical treatment during or following her arrest. However, she claimed that, as a result of the use of excessive force, she developed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Swing did not seek or receive treatment for this condition. Damages were not actively disputed by the defendants.