A lawsuit filed by a Somali woman shows that police officers in Portland used excessive force in detaining her illegally.
At the time of her detention, the woman was trying to find out the whereabouts of her then 16-year old daughter.
The woman, identified as Mumina Ali, has listed several defendants in her lawsuit.
The defendants are the City of Portland and Michael Sauschuck, who is a former Portland Police Chief and a current Commissioner with Maine Department of Public Safety.
She has also named a community policing coordinator as well as a city police officer among the defendants.
In her lawsuit, she says a police officer handcuffed her on July 23, 2014 at Maine Medical Center. The officer then pushed her from behind thus causing her to fall and chip her tooth.
As Ali lay on the ground, the officer then started choking her from behind. Eventually, Ali lost consciousness.
In the lawsuit, Ali says she was in the facility to look for her daughter and had not taken part in or committed any illegal activity.
Ali, a Somali refugee, relocated to Maine in 2006 with her five children after eight years spent in a refugee camp in Kenya.
In her lawsuit, Ali is seeking compensation worth $750,000 and a trial by jury.