Kevin Brown thought the police officer would thank him for waiting until he’d exited the busy stretch of highway before pulling over for the squad car that was following him.

Instead, Brown told IndyStar, the officer approached Brown’s car with her gun drawn.

“I told my wife, ‘don’t make any sudden moves,’” Brown, 62, said. “Keep the light on in the car because we don’t want her to mistake something and shoot.”

No one was injured during the traffic stop on Oct. 14, 2016. But the law professor and his wife, Dianne, allege multiple constitutional rights violations occurred during — and as a result of — the encounter with Officer Emily Perkins.

Brown's allegations form the basis of a federal lawsuit filed last month against the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department and the city.

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The IMPD doesn’t comment on pending litigation. The Office of Corporation Counsel, which represents the city, hasn’t responded to a request for comment. The city typically doesn’t comment on pending litigation.

Brown and his wife were headed back to Bloomington from Ohio, where Brown had spoken at Case Western Reserve Law School, the suit said. Brown grew up in Indianapolis and teaches criminal law at Indiana University Maurer School of Law. His wife works for IU’s Hudson and Holland Scholar’s Program.

The couple was traveling in Indianapolis through the “Spaghetti Bowl” — a stretch of Interstate 70 known for its multiple intersecting highways — when Brown saw sirens and lights behind him. When he realized the officer was flagging him, he waited until he saw an exit and pulled over to what he thought was a safe location, the lawsuit said.

Perkins approached the car with an “aggressive attitude,” Brown said, yelling “Why didn’t you stop? Why did you keep going?”

In a deposition filed last year, Perkins, a 17-year veteran of the department, said she was being "cautious" when she confronted Brown because she wasn't sure what she was dealing with.

Frightened by Perkins' weapon, Brown tried to assure the officer that he only wanted to pull over to a safe spot, according to the lawsuit.

Then, while pulling out his driver's license and bar admission card, Brown informed Perkins that he was a law professor and practicing attorney, the suit said.

“What I’m trying to tell her is I am not a threat to you,” he told IndyStar.

Brown was ordered out of the car and handcuffed, the lawsuit said. He then told his wife to record the incident on her cellphone, so they'd have the encounter "on record," Brown told IndyStar.

His wife started recording, but not for long. Perkins quickly came over, snatched the phone and threw it in the Browns' vehicle, Dianne Brown told IndyStar.

After having her cellphone confiscated by Perkins, Dianne Brown was handcuffed, too, according to the lawsuit.

“They made us sit off the guardrail at opposite ends,” Dianne Brown, 57, said. “(I felt) angry, violated.”

Other officers arrived and took the handcuffs off the couple, and indicated that Brown would receive a traffic citation, the lawsuit said. Ultimately, Brown was cuffed again and taken to jail.

In a probable cause affidavit filed after the traffic stop, Perkins wrote that she’d seen Brown’s maroon Hyundai making aggressive lane changes and darting in and out of traffic without using a turn signal. Perkins wrote in the report that Brown had several opportunities to stop before he did, and continued to travel for about one to two miles.

The report also said Brown wouldn't allow himself to be handcuffed, by stiffening his arms and refusing to put both behind his back.

Brown denies the report's allegations in the lawsuit, saying he merely changed lanes to allow the squad car to pass because he was initially unsure whether he was the one Perkins was pursuing. He told IndyStar he didn't resist when Perkins, who is also named in the suit, was cuffing him.

Nonetheless, Brown was arrested on charges of resisting law enforcement by fleeing, a felony, and resisting law enforcement by force, according to court documents. He then spent about 20 hours in Marion County Jail, Brown said.

“You can imagine my horror," said Dianne Brown, who wasn't taken into custody but went to the jail after her husband was arrested. "I’m a nervous wreck. I slept upstairs, above lockup. It was an absolute nightmare," she told IndyStar.

The criminal case was later resolved, according to court documents. He entered into a Traffic Deferral Agreement, under which he pleaded guilty last November to changing lanes without using a turn signal. The admission stemmed from Brown switching lanes when Perkins was behind him, he told IndyStar.

Brown acknowledges he could have left it at that. But he feels he has a “tremendous obligation” not to walk away from the incident, he told IndyStar. Especially since he considers race a factor in he and his wife's alleged mistreatment.

“I’ve had enough experiences. This wasn’t going to push me over the edge,” Brown said. “Without question one of my primary motivations, is that black people are so often in these terrible encounters with police."

The lawsuit alleges Perkins' conduct constituted "false arrest and unlawful detention," and seeks compensatory and punitive damages, and also calls for the implementation and use of body cameras to provide more accountability for officers.

IMPD officers do not wear body cameras. There also wasn't dash cam footage of the incident.

Call IndyStar reporter Crystal Hill at 317-444-6094. Follow her on Twitter: @crysnhill.