The Tucson Police Department and Sgt. Joel Mann have settled this week with UofA coed, Christina Gardilcic, in her lawsuit filed in federal court after Mann roughed her up on March 29, 2014 after the University of Arizona men’s basketball team lost to the Wisconsin Badgers in the NCAA tournament.
In her lawsuit, Gardilcic alleged that TPD Chief Roberto Villaseñor, who now sits on President Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, failed to properly train his officers. The Task Force on 21st Century Policing was conceived by the White House following the grand jury decision in Ferguson, Missouri.
Villaseñor’s officers showed up on the night of March 29, 2014 in riot gear and attempted to clear the area. In an inexplicable act of brutality, Mann hit Gardilcic. The attack was captured on video, and was first reported by the ADI.
Video from TPD Sgt. Joel Mann as the incident occurred:
Original video showing the officer hitting Gardilcic:
On August 13, 2014 Stephen M. Weeks filed a notice of claim for the woman knocked down by Sgt. Joel Mann. In the claim it states “Ms. Gardilcic is willing to settle all state and federal claims against all conceivable parties for $375,000.”
The claim described the situation as, “At the Tyndall skirmish line, Sgt. Mann knelt down and lowered his camera again. Moments after lowering his camera, Sgt. Mann saw a young man and two young women walking toward the Tyndall Avenue garage. Without any verbal direction or warning, Sgt. Mann stood up, chose his target, and charged her with his baton. He chose the smallest target, Christina Gardilcic, blindsiding her as she was defenselessly looking down at her cell phone.”
The damages claimed by Ms. Gardilcic include having a bruised arm, back spasms, mental anguish from the media coverage, and a breach of trust. Citing that Sgt. Mann committed civil battery on Ms. Gardilcic this may be settled out of court.
In the initial ADI report, one student, Tyler Charles, who allegedly witnessed the woman get hit by the police officer, said that the “girl walked passed me and she had her drink in her hand. I don’t know if it had alcohol in it or not… But she literally walked pass me and the officer just rammed her and all of us guys around lost our shit.”
The woman who originally posted the video told the ADI, “I came later and I was told that 3 girls were trying to get to their car off of university (boulevard) and with no warning this girl was knocked over by the cop. Watching the video and seeing the scene in person I understand the purpose behind crowd control in a situation like that but what that officer did was completely unwarranted.”
Christina Gardilcic graduated from the University of Arizona with bachelors in Psychology.
In this video, a young man simply walks a few steps up towards police and is immediately knocked down:
Related article:
Tucson students get roughed up after Elite Eight game
Villaseñor joins Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing