Winding up in the hospital after a run-in with Hamilton police wasn't how Megan Carter imagined ringing in the new year.

"Not at all," said Carter on Thursday, still in shock over what happened after police hauled her friend away in handcuffs from a Hess Village bar early Wednesday morning.

The 26-year-old said she and a few friends were celebrating at Lou Dawg's on George Street when she saw police arresting one of them.

"They refused to tell me what they were charging him with and I wanted to know."

So she followed the officers out and watched them put him in a cruiser, Carter said. Her phone dead, she couldn't shoot a photo of the licence plate.

"And I slammed my hand on the trunk of the car as it was pulling away out of frustration."

That's when, according to Carter, the officer driving the cruiser stepped out, grabbed her by the shoulders and threw her to the ground.

That left her with a broken elbow, chipped tooth, facial injury and scuffed knee, she said.

Carter, who was treated at St. Joseph's Healthcare, said she has to undergo surgery on her elbow on Friday. "I'm still shocked at how everything went down."

Ontario's police watchdog says it's investigating.

"The preliminary information indicates that at approximately 1:20 a.m. on January 1, 2020, Hamilton Police Service officers were dispatched to an address on George Street after receiving a complaint," Monica Hudon, spokesperson for the Special Investigations Unit, confirmed in an email. "Officers located some persons of interest. One of the individuals later went to hospital for treatment of a serious injury."

The SIU probes incidents involving police in which someone is seriously hurt, killed or there is an allegation of sexual assault.

Hamilton police spokesperson Jackie Penman said the officers were responding to a mischief call at the time.

Penman said she wasn't certain if anyone was arrested or charged in relation to the call. She didn't offer any more details about what happened.

Carter said she didn't know why the officers nabbed her friend, but they let him go in a parking lot on King Street West near Bay Street a short time later. "I was just bewildered because I just didn't understand the point behind any of this."

Carter said she later saw her friend in the hospital but, in a daze, was in no condition for a debrief. The Spectator wasn't able to reach him for comment Thursday evening.

After she was injured, Carter said she and some friends hailed an Uber to her place. Rattled emotionally, the extent of her injuries weren't immediately apparent, she said.

She slept for a couple of hours, and when she woke up, she couldn't move her elbow. "It hurt a lot."

Carter went to the hospital to be treated. There, a police sergeant came to interview her about what had happened.

At first, Carter said, she was worried, but the sergeant was compassionate and understanding. "And also able to offer perspective because she was able to put herself in my shoes and look at me from where I'm standing, which I think is invaluable."

That's how she'd like all officers to go about their business, Carter said.

At five-foot-five and less than 100 pounds, she can't fathom she posed a threat to the male officers. "I would like to see some charges pressed."

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