Fleischli, a longtime Madison activist, said Syphard told her “He’s tired of people like me wasting his time” and described him as angry and agitated. When she told him the handcuffs were painful, she said that Syphard told her she was “making that up and to shut up.”

According to Fleischli, Syphard led her to the CPD office in the Capitol basement and told her to sit in a chair, but she asked for the handcuffs to be removed first. Syphard shoved her down into the chair, which caused the handcuffs to dig into her hand. She screamed and straightened her body and Syphard again shoved her into the chair. She complained about the pain and told Syphard that she thought the wound was bleeding. Syphard told her she was lying and left the room, slamming the door behind him.

When another officer entered, Fleischli said she noticed that she was bleeding profusely, with blood on the chair and on the floor.

“There was blood all over the floor because I was dripping,” Fleischli said in an interview. “There was blood all down the back of my pants.”

The officer called for medical attention and a Fire Department paramedic bandaged Fleischli’s hand where the skin had been peeled back near her knuckles.