CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A Lakewood woman said Friday that she thought she might die in the split second between the time a veteran Cleveland police sergeant picked her up and when he slammed her to the ground, which she described as a professional wrestling-type move.

Angelina Martinez said in a phone interview with cleveland.com that Cleveland police Sgt. Christopher Graham choked her to the point she couldn't breathe, picked her up off the ground by her throat and slammed her to the pavement in a choke-slam - all because she tried to talk to a friend who was arrested for fighting.

"He was three or four times my size," Martinez, 18, said in the phone interview. "I felt like I was actually gong to die. I couldn't breathe with his hands around my throat, then he put his knee in my back. When he put me in handcuffs, I was actually relieved because I felt like at least he couldn't kill me now."

Cleveland police internal affairs investigators found that Graham, who weighs about 220 pounds, improperly attacked Martinez, who weights about 96 pounds, on Sept. 12 at a Sunoco gas station on West 137th Street and Lorain Avenue.

Graham then lied about what happened and filed felony charges against her under false pretenses, according to police reports and court records.

Graham, who has been a Cleveland police officer since 1996, pleaded not guilty Friday to two first-degree misdemeanor charges of assault and unlawful restraint. He was released on a personal bond.

Cleveland Fraternal Order of Police President Brian Betley said Graham is on restricted duty, which means he will be off the streets while the case is pending.

"What we'll do is monitor the case because undoubtedly it will be coming up for disciplinary proceedings no matter how the criminal case plays out," Betley said. "We'll stand by him and provide him with the best defense possible."

Martinez, who grew up in Cleveland's Clark-Fulton neighborhood and later moved to Lakewood, is saving money for college while trying to get in shape to potentially enlist in the U.S. Air Force., she told cleveland.com.

Martinez went with friends to a gas station and a fight broke out. Cleveland police reports say that officers were notified a gun was involved, but Martinez said no one had a gun.

The officers handcuffed two of the fighters. Martinez walked up to a 17-year-old friend who was in the backseat of a police cruiser to tell him goodbye, she said.

Graham yelled at her to get back, and she she took a few steps back while she continued talking to her friend, she said. Graham yelled and cursed at her again and started walking towards her, she said.

Martinez said she made an obscene gesture toward Graham because she felt like she wasn't doing anything wrong.

Graham then charged her and said she was assaulting him, Martinez said.

Graham grabbed her throat so hard it left handprints across her throat for hours, she said.

Graham picked her up by the throat, slammed her to the ground and knelt on her back while handcuffing her. An officer wrote in the police report that other officers helped grab Martinez. She denied that and said Graham was the only one who touched her.

She said she sprained her wrist, had a welt on her face, and had bruises all over her back and chest.

"It was crazy," Martinez said. "I don't know what I want for this. I want this man to be prosecuted. I don't know if him being charged with assault is enough."

Martinez was taken to the Cleveland City Jail. Graham eventually wrote a probable cause affidavit charging her with assaulting a police officer, a fourth-degree felony. Those charges were eventually dropped by the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office.

Martinez described the five days she spent in custody -- the first time she'd been in jail -- as disturbing. She ripped a sleeve off her shirt to wrap her sprained wrist because she didn't get medical attention for two days, she said.

Martinez later learned that Graham had been sued twice before, in 2003 and 2005, in lawsuits that accused him of abusing police power. In one incident, he was accused of attacking someone over a parking space, then claiming the man attacked him first. The city of Cleveland settled both lawsuits.

"He looked like he enjoyed what he was doing," Martinez said. "That man should not be in law enforcement."

Martinez said the incident that ended in her arrest made her lose trust in police officers, but she is grateful other officers and witnesses spoke up against Graham.

"They handled everything pretty quickly," Martinez said. "I was pretty happy with that. I kind of got lucky that there were so many cameras and so many witnesses. I don't think anything would have happened if the cops on the scene hadn't said something."

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