Ex-Playboy Playmate Wins Excessive Force Lawsuit Against NYPD
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A Manhattan jury awarded a former Playboy playmate $1.2 million for injuries she suffered during a run-in with police in 2006.
Stephanie Adams, 41, claimed in a lawsuit that police used excessive force when they threw her on the ground at gunpoint after she got into a confrontation with a taxi driver.
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Adams testified she called 911 after the driver, who also called 911, began cursing and threatening her. She said the cabbie falsely told police that she "flashed vampire teeth" and was going to shoot him.
"He was cursing and threatening me and got out of the taxi to threaten me," Adams told reporters, including 1010 WINS' Holly Haerr.
When officers arrived at the scene, Adams said her bags were searched and she was shoved down to the ground. Adams claims she suffered permanent neck and back injuries from the rough treatment.
"They yanked my hair, they shoved me to the ground in the street and I closed my eyes and started crying," Adams said.
The jury gave Adams $385,000 more than her lawyers asked for.
The city Law Department said it could ask the judge to reduce the award or overturn the jury's verdict.
Adams, who was proclaimed as the first openly lesbian playmate, was Playboy's Miss November in 1992.
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