Orange Is the New Black star Taryn Manning is suing New York City over 2014 arrest

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Actress Taryn Manning is taking legal action against the city of New York, claiming she was wrongfully arrested in November 2014.

In a New York Supreme Court petition filed against the city Monday, the Orange Is the New Black star alleges that the New York Police Department never should have arrested her after she was accused of making criminal threats against a woman whom Manning previously obtained a restraining order against. After the arrest, the New York District Attorney’s office declined to press charges against Manning, and her attorney alleges the NYPD was aware no charges would be filed, but arrested her anyway. Jeanine Heller, the woman who claimed Manning had threatened her had previously been arrested for allegedly harassing the actress.

“Ms. Manning should never have been arrested where the New York City Police Department received advance notice from the New York County District Attorney’s Office that Ms. Manning would not be prosecuted based on an allegation of the subject complainant,” Manning’s attorney James Franzetti tells PEOPLE in an exclusive statement. “It was also astonishing that the NYPD acted on an allegation of a complainant with a glaring prosecutorial (two prior arrests, charges including stalking and harassing Ms. Manning) and plea history.”

Franzetti says the petition is the first step in further legal action against the city.

“This petition is the first step in a claim for damages arising out of the patently false November 18, 2014 arrest of Taryn Manning,” her attorney’s statement continues. “Substantively, the petition concerns the acquired, actual knowledge of the City of New York of the essential, foundational facts which serve as the basis for Ms. Manning’s claims and causes of action for false arrest, civil rights and additional statutory violations.”

Heller, the woman at the center of Manning’s 2014 arrest, was later sentenced to six months in jail in July, for allegedly harassing Manning. The New York Daily news reported at the time that Heller admitted contacting Manning, in breach of a previous plea deal in which she had agreed to cease contact.

Manning, 37, plays Tiffany Doggett on OITNB, and starred in Hustle and Flow, 8 Mile and Crazy/Beautiful.