Bartlesville Woman Shot In Head During Beating Sues Officer, Department

Friday, October 27th 2017, 6:12 pm

By: News On 6

A woman is suing a Bartlesville police officer and his department after she says the officer shot her in the head while she was battered by her then-boyfriend.

On Oct. 26, 2016, a neighbor of Trina Brown's called police after seeing her then-boyfriend, William Cole, walking back to her house after beating her earlier that day, according to the lawsuit filed Oct. 23 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma.

Officers deployed a Taser on Cole as he was witnessed beating Brown, but it had no effect, according to the lawsuit.

10/26/2016 Related Story: Bartlesville Police, OSBI Investigating Fatal Officer-Involved Shooting

Officers tackled Cole, but got punched, so Officer Corey Boyd "loosed a fusillade of bullets in the general direction of Mr. Cole" and killed him. But Brown, who was lying on the floor, was struck by a bullet in the side of the head, the lawsuit states.

The suit states the bullet struck her in the head behind her left ear, traveled down her neck and across her back, and finally got lodged near her lower spine.

The lawsuit alleges officers tried to hide the "negligent and careless use of deadly force" by Boyd, stating that one of the officers at the scene told EMSA workers Brown had been stabbed behind her ear.

The lawsuit alleges Boyd was negligent in shooting Cole in such close proximity to the victim. It also alleges the city didn't provide the officer with proper training.

Brown believes her constitutional rights under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments were violated, the lawsuit alleges.

Brown is requesting no less than $75,000 in actual damages.