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A divided federal appeals panel has reversed a judge's decision that would have let a woman's excessive force lawsuit go forward against a Gage County sheriff's deputy.

Still, one of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judges who agreed with the outcome in Melanie Kelsay's case took issue with the deputy's actions May 29, 2014, in Wymore.

"The slamming of this lady to the ground by the deputy with force sufficient to fracture her shoulder was uncalled for given the nature of the encounter underway," Judge C. Arlen Beam of Lincoln wrote in Thursday's order.

In 2015, Kelsay sued Deputy Matt Ernst and others involved in her arrest, saying Ernst broke her collarbone during the encounter.

She alleged it was a wrongful arrest and excessive force, and she sought compensation for the $40,000 in medical bills that followed.

In May 2017, U.S. District Judge John Gerrard dismissed everyone but Ernst from the lawsuit, denying the deputy's motion to find that he was immune from the suit.

In his order, he said Ernst's excessiveness of force would have been apparent to a reasonable officer because, while Kelsay had kept walking when she'd been told to stop, she wasn't using force or posing a threat to anyone.