Minneapolis settles police stop lawsuit

Nancy Johnson could never have imagined how a chance encounter with police could escalate so quickly.

"I think it could have been anyone," says Nancy.

In 2006, Nancy and her fiancé Derrick Simmons were headed to dinner, driving through north Minneapolis.

"It was just the evening of my birthday and I just got through with a double shift because I'm a nurse," says Nancy.

That's when they saw lights. The Minneapolis police SWAT van was pulling them over for speeding, according to police reports.

Nancy says they were not driving too fast. Officers told Derrick to get out of the car. It was all captured by a surveillance camera that was mounted on a nearby building.

As Derrick turns around, the traffic stop turns into a scuffle, then an all out fight. Nancy and Derrick say no one ever told them why they had been stopped.

"They had done absolutely nothing. They were not involved in any sort of criminal activity," says Minneapolis attorney Stephen Smith.

And Smith says there was no reason the officer to grab derrick, later taze him - and no reason for two people just driving to dinner to end up in jail.

"I think that what this represents is an abuse of power," says Smith.

After the confrontation, Nancy and Derrick faced criminal charges. Those charges were later dismissed. In Derrick's case, the judge didn't believe the officers, saying there was "no credible evidence."

In fact, there were many inconsistencies between the video and police reports. Officer Lucas Peterson said Nancy was clinging to his partner's back. On tape, Nancy gets out of the car for a moment, then goes right back in.

Meantime, Derrick's case went to the city's civil rights commission, eventually settling for $35,000. And now, Nancy's federal civil rights lawsuit has also settled, for $65,000.

But the money is little comfort for Nancy who says she still feels fearful and wonders how it might have turned out if the camera wasn't rolling.

"I always thought that if you lived a good life and did everything right, that nothing like this would ever happen to you, so it's kind of an eye awakener for me," says Nancy.

The city of Minneapolis issued a statement about Nancy Johnson's case, saying "the settlement speaks for itself and is a cost-effective resolution to this case."

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