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The lawsuit was filed in March in New Jersey Superior Court, Essex County. On Feb. 9, 2021, the woman was working as a phlebotomist at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, when two patients began arguing about who was to be seen next to have their blood drawn, according to the lawsuit.
The woman told them there was another phlebotomist who would see them soon but one of the patients became irate, and she charged at the woman and began punching her in the face, according to the lawsuit. The woman pushed back on the patient, who had an unknown object and used it to stab the woman in the face, according to the lawsuit. The woman was diagnosed with facial lacerations and knee and ankle pain, according to the lawsuit
The woman later went to police headquarters and filed a complaint against the patient, hoping she would be charged with aggravated assault, according to the lawsuit. But police refused to arrest her and acted "unreasonable" and "egregious" with the woman, according to the lawsuit.
The woman fared no better with her employer. She said security refused to call police and then the hospital terminated her, despite her unblemished work history, according to the lawsuit.
Later, the patient filed a complaint against the woman and Newark Police sided with the patient, charging the woman with assault, according to the lawsuit. The woman, who is African-American, claims she was treated differently because of her race. The patient is Ethiopian, according to the lawsuit.
When officers came to arrest her, the woman was clad only in her bathrobe and was forced to get dressed in front of police, standing naked in front of them, as police watched, according to the lawsuit. One police officer was openly smiling as she changed, according to the lawsuit. The woman later learned police were passing around the bodycam footage of her naked, according to the lawsuit.
Newark Police did not immediately provide comment to Daily Voice.
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