A Forest Grove mother and daughter have filed a lawsuit in federal court against the city and several police officers alleging that police traumatized them and violated their rights during an illegal traffic stop.



Debra Bianchi and her adult daughter, Jennifer Meade, claim in their complaint that officers responding to reports of a gang fight at Grande Foods in Cornelius on June 17, 2010, mistook their vehicle for that of the suspects.



According to the complaint, officers in three marked Forest Grove Police cars used lights and sirens to stop Meade, who was driving a Chevrolet Suburban. Her mother and two young children were also in the vehicle.



The lawsuit names Forest Grove Police Chief Kerry Aleshire, Officer Jason Moser, Sgt. Dean Foster, Officer Scott King and an unidentified officer as defendants in addition to the City of Forest Grove.



The complaint, filed by Portland attorney Andrew Kohlmetz, claims the plaintiffs' vehicle did not match the description or license plate of the suspect vehicle. Meade, Bianchi and Meade's children did not match descriptions of the suspects police were seeking. Prior to the traffic stop, the complaint says, dispatchers had notified police that the "gang fight" was verbal only and no crime had occurred.



Foster pointed an assault rifle at the Suburban throughout the stop, the complaint alleges.



The officers shouted at Meade and ordered her to walk backwards toward them with her hands on her head, the complaint says. She complied, and officers then patted her down.



Officers then ordered Bianchi out of the vehicle, according to the complaint, and she was "physically seized by individual defendants and subjected to a forcible search of her person."



Meade's children, ages 3 and 1, remained alone in the vehicle, according to the complaint.



Kohlmetz said neither Meade nor Bianchi was cited or arrested in connection with the incident.



The traffic stop and subsequent detention and searches were unlawful and violated the plaintiffs' Constitutional rights, the complaint alleges.



Meade and Bianchi are asking for an unspecified amount in damages.



Captain Mike Herb, a Forest Grove police spokesman, said the department couldn't comment on the lawsuit pending further investigation.



– Emily E. Smith



