Deanna Kelly says she still freezes when she sees a uniformed police officer.

She was pulled over more than three years ago by an officer who thought she had been riding her motorcycle too fast and aggressively.

What happened next was captured on a surveillance camera.

"I was assaulted by a police officer, and that is the last thing you think when you get pulled over," Kelly told CBC News.

The video has been posted on YouTube. Both Kelly and the officer can be seen reaching for the key in the ignition of her bike.

The constable said he put one hand on her collarbone. Kelly claimed he put both hands around her neck.

She was pushed back several metres before the officer forced her against an SUV. After a struggle, he cuffed her hands behind her back.

Kelly was charged with obstructing a peace officer, but the charge was dropped before she ever went to court.

She complained about the officer's actions, but the police chief determined a disciplinary charge against the constable was not warranted.

Kelly appealed that decision, and on Wednesday appeared before the Law Enforcement Review Board.

To prepare for the hearing, Kelly paid a video production company to create a close-up of the original surveillance video. She told the review board she thinks the chief would have made a different decision had he seen the new version.

Deanna Kelly says she was assaulted during a 2017 traffic stop. 0:47

"I don't think any reasonable person seeing the video would say that was justified, legal, appropriate or warranted," Kelly told the three board members. "I've never been handled like that or assaulted like that. I know it was wrong."

But the lawyer representing the constable disputed Kelly's version of events.

"An officer's not going to attack somebody randomly," Michele Wolowidnyk said. "She went for him."

Wolowidnyk said she didn't believe the close-up version of the video would have changed the chief's original decision.

LERB chair Ellen-Anne O'Donnell said she and the two other board members had viewed the video repeatedly and still couldn't figure out exactly what happened.

"The video is pretty ambiguous because it happened so fast," O'Donnell said. "It's hard to say one way or the other what happened. It might come down to credibility or testimony at a hearing."

Afterwards, Kelly told CBC News she would be satisfied if the board directed the chief to hold a disciplinary hearing.

"He needs to know what he did was wrong," Kelly said of the officer. "If he continues on thinking that was OK, then there's going to be more people that are kind of screwed up."

'I don't feel safe around law enforcement'

Kelly described her encounter with the constable as the most traumatic event in her life. She told the board it has had a long-lasting impact.

"It's definitely impacted my ability to function with some things, especially police," she said. "I don't feel safe around law enforcement. I feel the opposite of safe, and there's not really anything I can do about it."

After the hearing, Kelly said she froze when two officers came to her home after she reported a break-in.

"They had to call a crisis unit to come talk," Kelly said. "I didn't feel threatened by the officers. But I definitely felt like I just didn't have a voice anymore."

The LERB hopes to release a decision in two or three months.