(Muskogee, Oklahoma — April 15, 2012)
A female resident of Muskogee, OK, Mary L. Hill, has filed suit against Union Pacific Railroad over what she alledges were false arrest and assault actions by Union Pacific Police Officer Allen Simmons after an incident which occurred at the Martin Luther King Street grade crossing of UPRR tracks on May 27, 2010.
Represented by Attorney Ronald E. Durbin II of the Tulsa-based law firm of Moyers, Martin, Santee & Imel, Ms. Hill’s altercation with the uniformed railroad police officer was caught on surveillance tape, possibly the same apparatus used to film activities and accidents at signalized street crossings by railroad authorities. Hill said she walked across the tracks on her way home from work when Simmons stopped her for "trespassing".
The tape clearly shows Simmons choking and manhandling Hill, telling her to stop her efforts to protect herself from someone she says he didn’t even know was a police officer. The tape also shows the incident occurring at a railroad public grade crossing where the driving or pedestrian public can legally cross unoccupied railroad tracks. Regardless, Simmons placed Hill under arrest, charging her with trespassing, resisting arrest and assault and battery on a police officer, charges which were either dropped later, dismissed by the local courts, or resulted in a declaration of not guilty.
Hill is claiming damages of a minimum of $10,000, saying she was attacked without cause by a person (Simmons) who never identified himself as a police officer nor told her she was under arrest. Her charges include that two witnesses were present at the altercation and will testify in the case.