Woman sues BART, saying transit cop knocked her out at jail

A woman has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against BART, saying a transit police officer forcefully slammed her to the ground at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, breaking bones in her face and leaving her bloodied and unconscious.

The incident happened last year after Megan Sheehan was arrested for being intoxicated at the Lake Merritt BART Station in Oakland.

According to BART police, Megan Sheehan was intoxicated, didn’t appear to be capable of caring for herself and was “verbally argumentative” with officers who found her sitting on a bench inside the station on March 17, 2014. She was taken to the ground to be handcuffed and hit an officer in the shoulder and kicked him in the face, BART police said.

Officers took her to Santa Rita Jail in Dublin to be booked on suspicion of resisting arrest, battery on a police officer and public intoxication. While in the booking area, her handcuffs were removed so that she could remove her jewelry. Sheehan was “initially compliant” but then threw a hair tie at Officer Nolan Pianta after he told her that the jail wouldn’t allow her to bring it in, authorities said.

Sheehan “inexplicably” began looking through her purse and refused Pianta’s instructions to stop doing so, BART police said. Pianta put her in an “arm bar control hold to gain compliance,” but she continued to resist and tried to punch the officer, who then “guided” her to the ground with the assistance of Oakland police, who were also present, agency officials said.

Sheehan, however, said Pianta forcefully hurled her to the ground with such force that she lost consciousness and suffered four broken cheek bones, a split molar and cracked front tooth. She said her injuries left her — and the floor of the jail — bloodied.

Sheehan spent two days at Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley, the complaint says. She was not criminally charged in the case.

Sheehan’s suit, filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, seeks unspecified damages and names BART and Pianta as defendants. Attorneys for BART denied any wrongdoing in court papers and said she was partly to blame for any injuries she may have sustained.

Henry K. Lee is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: hlee@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @henryklee