A 71-year-old Queens grandmother say's she'll file a civil-rights lawsuit against the city after an altercation inside the 107th Precinct Wednesday night left her with a broken hip. Elizabeth Gorden (pictured) had gone there with other family members to find out why cops hadn't arrested a man who allegedly slapped her granddaughter at a bus station. What happened next is heavily disputed—police say the family became unruly and were asked to leave. And when a captain intervened, they say Gorden took a swing at him, missed and fell to the floor, breaking her hip. She had to have surgery this week.
But Gorden and her offspring say cops roughed her up without provocation. Her daughter Sharon Gorden tells WCBS, "I did witness a group of police officers come out of nowhere and just pounce my mother to the ground." Gorden and her daughter, who allegedly shoved another officer, were both given desk appearance tickets and charged with obstructing governmental administration. Marquez Claxton of 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care (presumably) wasn't there, but he's not buying the story about Gorden throwing a punch: "Absolutely not. And had she taken a swing at a captain, she would have been arrested, charged and put through central booking. That's a common sense answer to that one, so absolutely not."
