A 37-year-old woman is asking Phoenix to pay her $12.5 million to settle her claim that a Phoenix police officer sexually assaulted her during a body cavity search last year.

Erica Reynolds, through her lawyers Heather Hamel and Steve Benedetto, filed a notice of claim Monday at Phoenix City Hall. The claim is a precursor before a lawsuit is filed in court.

The officer involved received a suspension after an internal police investigation, Phoenix police said late Monday.

According to AZ Central, Phoenix police officers pulled over Reynolds on Dec. 26 as part of a drug-trafficking investigation in south Phoenix. They pulled her over because she had met with the primary suspect, according to the claim.

Officers also patted her down and searched her vehicle, but they didn’t find any drugs, the claim says. Officers also had a K-9 dog sniff for drugs, but the dog didn’t indicate it found any in Reynolds’ car.

Still, they arrested her and took her to the station where a female officer conducted an illegal cavity search, the claim says. The woman claims she was sexually sodomized by the officer.

“As the officer inserted multiple unlubricated fingers into Erica’s anus, probing her rectum, the tears flowed,” according to Reynolds’ claim. “And as the officers aggressively poked and prodded a hemorrhoid, Erica yelped in pain.”

Erica Reynolds (right), who claims a Phoenix police officer sexually assaulted her during a stop last year, stands behind her lawyer, Heather Hamel, during a press conference held on June 24, 2019, outside of Phoenix City Hall. (Photo: Johanna Huckeba/The Republic)

Phoenix police described the incident differently.

“Having reason to believe Ms. Reynolds possessed illegal drug evidence on her person, officers requested a female police officer to perform a through [sic] search of Ms. Reynolds,” agency spokesperson Mercedes Fortune said.

The cavity search injured her so much that she began to bleed, the claim says.

“After the body cavity search revealed nothing, Erica was released to her daughter. In physical pain, bleeding rectally, and traumatized, she eventually asked her daughter to take her to the hospital,” the claim says.

At the hospital, Maricopa Medical Center, she told staff members, “I think I was raped by police officers. They did a body cavity search and now I have bleeding.”

According to medical records mentioned in the claim, medical staff wrote Reynolds had been sexually assaulted and had rectal bleeding.

Police told medical staff that they would not be investigating Reynolds’ allegations, the claim says.

Reynolds was arrested on February 6 — about six weeks after the body cavity search — on suspicion of multiple felonies related to a suspected drug ring. At the time, Reynolds had already filed a complaint over the incident and followed up multiple times. She had also addressed the allegation in a public Facebook video.

According to Phoenix New Times, Reynolds admitted on February 6 to “purchasing illegal drugs and possessing illegal drugs” on December 26, the same day as the cavity search.

The Phoenix Police Department forwarded a case to the Arizona Attorney General’s Office on February 7, according to a probable cause statement.

Since then, prosecutors have not filed charges against Reynolds, though they have pursued cases against at least 20 other defendants for their alleged involvement in the drug ring.

In her claim, Reynolds’ attorneys said the real reason for Reynolds’ arrest on February 6 was to thwart her plans to speak out about her body cavity search during a City Council meeting that same day. Attorneys Hamel and Benedetto also alleged that police coerced Reynolds into giving a confession during a six-hour interrogation.

The filing accuses the Phoenix Police Department of failing to document the the cavity search in police reports, ignoring a complaint she filed and subsequent follow-ups, and instructing nurses not to perform a rape kit evaluation on Reynolds when she asked for one.

The statement from spokesperson Fortune acknowledged a complaint from Reynolds on December 27, but did not address allegations that it ignored follow-ups. Fortune also did not address the other allegations related to an alleged cover-up.

The internal investigation was completed Feb. 25 and the officer was disciplined, receiving a suspension, police said.

“The Phoenix Police Department takes allegations of misconduct seriously and it is our goal to be receptive, accountable and transparent,” the statement said.

Department reports on the matter will be made available Tuesday, police said.