Lawyer's suit claims HPD officer abused her

A Houston lawyer has filed suit against the city and HPD for $1 million, claiming a police officer threw her cell phone, shoved her against a wall, handcuffed and arrested her while she was trying to assert her client's rights last year. Tina Marie Andrews claims she was talking with a client at a west side apartment Feb. 18, 2005, when Officer Justin H. Kennedy knocked at the door. Andrews said she told Kennedy she represented the people living in the apartment and asked him to stop questioning them, and Kennedy became verbally abusive.

After she said she would phone someone about his behavior, he snatched her cell phone and hurled it across the room, shoved her against a wall, then dragged her out of the house and handcuffed her, Andrews says in her lawsuit.

Andrews said Kennedy injured her arms, shoulders, wrists and hands while arresting her on a charge of interfering with a police investigation. She spent a night in jail, but the charges against her were eventually dropped. Andrews is seeking $500,000 in compensatory damages and $500,000 in punitive damages. The lawsuit was filed in state court but was transferred to federal court last week.