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CHICOPEE

— The city has released a video showing a former Chicopee police officer placing a hand on a woman's throat and pulling her to the floor as she was being booked on assault charges at police headquarters in February 2013.

Maylene Maldonado, who had been drinking and smoking PCP before she was charged with assaulting a police officer, has filed a $1 million federal lawsuit against Daniel Major, the Chicopee police sergeant shown in the video grabbing her by the throat.

"He's no longer with the department," Mary Moge, chief of staff for Mayor Richard Kos, said of Major. Moge said she was unsure if Major was fired or if he resigned. Tom Rooke, his attorney, did not immediately return a phone message Monday.

The Maldonado case has sparked mixed reactions within the Chicopee Police Department's hierarchy, pitting the current police chief against the former acting chief. Chief William Jebb said Major acted inappropriately and turned over a copy of the booking video to City Hall officials. His predecessor, Thomas Charette, who was acting chief at the time of the incident involving Major and Maldonado, has defended Major's actions as appropriate in light of the circumstances.

An internal police review determined that Major did not violate departmental rules and "acted admirably" by subduing Maldonado, who was 24 at the time, high on PCP, and allegedly repeatedly spat blood during her arrest. A subsequent clerk-magistrate's hearing seconded that assessment, ruling that no charges should be filed against Major.

However, District Court Judge Maureen Walsh, who reviewed the police booking video over two dozen times, ruled that Major could be charged criminally, paving the way for an assault-and-battery charge against him in November 2013.

In her lawsuit, Maldonado levels more than a dozen accusations at Major and other Chicopee officers, including allegations of assault and battery and civil rights violations. She also cites the city of Chicopee's alleged failure to properly train its police officers, among other claims.

Kos' office has declined to discuss "pending litigation" against the city and its employees, but Chicopee officials released the following statement on Monday, March 16:

The federal lawsuit states that the incident began when Maldonado's friend's car got stuck in a snowbank outside the Econo Lodge in Chicopee on Feb. 17, 2013. Police had been dispatched there after a 911 call about a man with a knife wandering around incoherently, according to the complaint.

Police spotted Maldonado running toward a nearby gas station and went to check on her. She admitted that she had been drinking and smoking PCP, a hallucinogenic drug also called angel dust, and a confrontation ensued over police taking her license. That culminated with her slapping Officer John Birks across the face, according to the complaint. She then apologized.

Maldonado was arrested and taken to the police station for booking. There, Birks and another officer, Ryan Moran, allegedly assaulted Maldonado, according to the complaint.

While in the booking area, Maldonado repeatedly complains that her lip piercing was causing her pain and asks for it to be removed, according to the video released by the city on Monday. She is heard yelling repeatedly at officers until Major abruptly grabs her by the throat and brings her to the floor with the help of other officers.

"At this point, Defendant Major abruptly applied a chokehold to Plaintiff's neck and yelled: 'Shut the f*** up,'" the lawsuit alleges, adding that a group of other officers stood by and watched.

Maldonado, who claims she never received medical treatment for her alleged injuries, was later charged with resisting arrest and assault and battery on a police officer.

In addition to Major and the city of Chicopee, other parties named in the lawsuit include Charette, Birks, Moran, Sgt. Jeffrey Godere, Officer Travis Odiorne, Officer Andre Remillard and Capt. Mark Gilbert, the person tasked with conducting the department's internal probe.