A woman who is active in the Front Range’s protest community has sued a Denver police commander for taking her cell phone during a April 2015 demonstration that turned violent.

The lawsuit also said that the Denver Police Department only recently instructed its officers to allow people to take pictures and record videos of police actions.

Jessica Benn of Fort Collins is asking for an unspecified amount in damages because police violated her constitutional right to protest and her Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable police searches and seizures.

Benn and her husband, Jesse Benn, participated in a protest against police brutality near Civic Center to show solidarity with Freddie Gray, who died as result of injuries sustained while in police custody in Baltimore. During the protest, Denver police used pepper spray on the crowd and arrested 11 people after an officer was knocked off his motorcycle.

Sonny Jackson, a Denver police spokesman, said he could not comment on the pending litigation.

Benn wore a “Black Lives Matter” shirt and carried a sign that read “White Silence is Violence,” according to the lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Denver.

During the protest, police began arresting some of the demonstrators, including Jesse Benn. Two officers in SWAT gear tackled him and dragged him across the pavement. A third Denver officer put his knee into Jesse Benn’s back and smashed his face into the pavement as he was put into handcuffs, the lawsuit said.

Jessica Benn was standing on a sidewalk to record the demonstration and her husband’s arrest when Commander Antonio Lopez, who leads Denver’ downtown police district, said “grab her,” the lawsuit said. Lopez walked up and snatched Benn’s phone from her hands.

Another officer used a baton to shove Jessica Benn against a bus. She was released after she told the sergeant she was pregnant.

However, police did not return her cell phone, the lawsuit said.

In the lawsuit, Benn said that she was on public property, did not interfere with police action and did not harass or distract the officers from doing their jobs.

“She recorded the events that day because she did not think that the officers’ actions were proper, she believed that the arrests should be documented, she was critical of the officers’ actions, and she wanted to disseminate this information and message to the public,” the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit includes a section on the importance of citizen recording of police activity, and cites other instances where Denver officers took people’s cameras and phones or intimidated people recording them.

At the time of Benn’s protest, the Denver Police Department did not have a policy that covered how its officers should respond when people document their actions, the lawsuit said.

“The policymakers for the city and the department knew of these problems, allowed them to continue, and made decisions not to implement adequate policies, training or supervision,” the lawsuit said.

The department since has added a section to its operations manual that reminds officers people have a right to record police activity and that officers cannot threaten anyone doing so. The policy also says police must have a warrant to confiscate recording equipment.

Noelle Phillips: 303-954-1661, nphillips@denverpost.com or @Noelle_Phillips