A flower vendor announced a lawsuit Tuesday against the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department after she was arrested in June 2017 for selling flowers without a permit. She alleges that the officers involved in the caught-on-camera arrest used excessive force.
The cellphone video shows a sheriff's deputy in an altercation with a woman who allegedly did not have a permit to sell flowers outside a high school graduation ceremony in Perris.
That woman Joaquina Valencia is now suing the Riverside County Sheriff's Department for excessive force and saying no human should ever be treated the way she was.
The complaint alleges Valencia was "unjustifiably beaten, shoved to the ground and arrested."
Watch: Officer Arrests Flower Vendor in Perris
![[LA] Watch: Officer Arrests Flower Vendor in Perris](https://media.nbclosangeles.com/images/620*349/Perris_Arrest_Flower_Vendor_Twitter_1200x675_1002727491899.jpg)
"He tossed me like a rag," Valencia said in Spanish.
But new helmet cam video worn by one of the deputies released Monday shows the altercation from a different angle, on which Valencia's son can be heard telling his mom to not move.
The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department says that Valencia used a false name (Juanita Mendez-Medrano) when she was detained and resisted arrest. A year later, the department stands by its arrest, claiming they verified her identity through fingerprints.
However, Valencia's attorney Ralph Rios argues that Joaquina Valencia is her true name and that she was just nervous.
DMV records also confirm Valencia is the woman's true name.
"A lot of times when people do that, people get nervous and, she might have said a different name, she might have said something," Rios said.
Valencia’s other attorney, Luis Carrillo says that someone selling flowers is not a criminal.
"A person selling flowers is not a dangerous criminal, it's not a bad person. A person selling flowers is making a living. And for him to ask about papers, that shows the frame of mind, he has a racist frame of mind to assume she's not a US citizen. But she is," Carrillo said.
#1: misterwhite To: Deckard (#0)
So her real name is Joaquina Valencia but she got nervous and
might have saidsaid her name was Juanita Mendez-Medrano. A mere slip of the tongue. A nervous tic.Hell, we all do it. When I was pulled over the other day for speeding I was nervous and said my name was Inigo Montoya. But what really got me in trouble was that I accused the cop of killing my father and told him to prepare to die.
In California, "Any person who falsely represents or identifies himself or herself as another person or as a fictitious person to any peace officer ... upon a lawful detention or arrest of the person, either to evade the process of the court, or to evade the proper identification of the person by the investigating officer is guilty of a misdemeanor."
So, tack on that charge. Maybe that will eliminate her nervousness in the future.
misterwhite posted on 2018-11-22 11:01:56 Reply Private Reply
#2: misterwhite To: Deckard (#0)
She has TWO attorneys? Wow. The flower business must be good.
misterwhite posted on 2018-11-22 11:04:14 Reply Private Reply
#3: misterwhite To: Deckard (#0)
Which means her fingerprints were on file. Which means she's been arrested before. At least once.
Yet her "other" attorney says she's not a bad person. Well, she's not a good person either.
misterwhite posted on 2018-11-22 11:08:39 Reply Private Reply
#4: misterwhite To: Deckard (#0)
That'll happen when you resist arrest. Next time, don't resist arrest.
If you're a U.S. Citizen, why are you speaking Spanish? And giving a false name? And resisting arrest? Talk about red flags!
misterwhite posted on 2018-11-22 11:16:44 Reply Private Reply
#5: GrandIsland To: Deckard (#0)
Please vet your articles... your constant licking of the criminal boot is pathetic.
Maybe next time she won’t falsely identify herself as another to a LEO... and then resist arrest like the inner city filthy pig she is.
GrandIsland posted on 2018-11-22 20:04:53 Reply Private Reply
#6: Hondo68 To: Deckard (#0)
Hondo68 posted on 2018-11-23 00:30:26 Reply Private Reply