Activist Teressa Raiford filed a $500,000 lawsuit Wednesday against the city of Portland for her 2015 arrest during a political demonstration, saying police targeted her for arrest without probable cause.

Raiford was arrested on charges of interference with a police officer and disorderly conduct on Aug. 9, 2015. The interference charge was later dropped. A Portland jury unanimously acquitted her of disorderly conduct in April 2016.

In the lawsuit, first reported by Willamette Week, Raiford says police targeted her for arrest because she is a well-known activist against police brutality. Officers forced her into a police car. One told her that, in her experience, "90 percent of black people are killed by other black people," Raiford says in the lawsuit.

Raiford was arrested after an event honoring Michael Brown, an unarmed black teen who was fatally shot by police in Ferguson, Missouri. A crowd marched in the intersection of Southeast 82nd Avenue and Division Street after the event before moving to the sidewalk. Raiford and several of the event's organizers addressed the crowd from a few feet off the sidewalk, the lawsuit says.

Portland police Sgt. Jacob Clark then instructed officers to arrest Raiford.

The officers approached Raiford from behind. She turned around with her hands up when other protesters warned her of the officers, the lawsuit says. The officers handcuffed her as she told them, "I am not resisting," the lawsuit says.

The Portland Police Bureau does not comment on pending litigation, spokesman Sgt. Chris Burley told The Oregonian/OregonLive on Wednesday night.

The city of Portland was negligent in its failure to train, discipline, transfer or fire the officers who arrested Raiford, the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit says Raiford suffered pain, suffering, anxiety and fear of police among other damages because of her arrest. She seeks a trial by jury.

— Samantha Matsumoto

503-294-4001; @SMatsumoto55