A woman who was bumped with a bike and sprayed with pepper spray during her arrest in Miami Beach this summer is filing a lawsuit.
Mariyah Maple said she was filing the lawsuit against three Miami Beach police officers, alleging they violated their constitutional rights during their July 25 arrest.
“I was torn up and hit by a bike for no reason,” Maple said on Tuesday.
Maple claims she was fired from her job as a nurse after her employer learned of the arrest.
Buffalo-based Maple was celebrating her birthday weekend in town when she started recording a traffic stop.
A cell phone video showed an officer beating Maple on his bicycle and then spraying pepper spray on her.
Police accused Maple of violating a new city ordinance that requires people to stay 6 meters from an officer during an arrest.
Around the same time, another video surfaced of a viewer being struck down by several Miami Beach police officers while an arrest was being recorded.
As a result of these incidents, Miami Beach Police Chief Rick Clements suspended the ordinance to better train officers.
NBC 6’s Alyssa Hyman is in Miami Beach where a new video shows a New York woman getting pepper spray while filming an arrest.
The department said the training was complete and the regulation was active again.
Authorities later dropped the charges against Maple, but the mother of two said the damage was done, especially when it comes to her nursing career.
“I tried applying for another job and they told me my fingerprints were coming back, that I was arrested and that I had to show evidence that everything was dropped,” Maple said. “It looks like they don’t want to go back to work because of the arrest.”
Maple claims police officers violated their fourth right of amendment preventing the government from illegal searches, seizures and false arrests.
Her lawyer, Jared Kosoglad, said he saw a pattern in policing.
“Police disciplinary systems are so broken in Miami Beach, and this country in general, that police officers are not disciplined for lying or video abuse of citizens,” he said. “The only way citizens in this country can get justice when the police are harassing them is to file lawsuits, and that’s what we’re going to do here.”
A Miami Beach spokeswoman said they don’t usually speak up on litigation-related matters.
Police sergeant Vincent Stella seen in the video with Maple is still on patrol while the investigation into the matter continues.
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