BUFFALO - A jury has awarded $1.6 million to a school principal who said she was humiliated and permanently injured when she was arrested in front of students and staff for refusing to let police speak to a student without first telling her parents.
Susan Doyle “feels like she has been vindicated by the judicial process for this terrible incident,” her attorney, Terrence Higgins, said Tuesday.
A state Supreme Court jury decided on the award following a weeklong trial and about three hours of deliberations.
Higgins said Doyle, now 49, was handcuffed and “forcibly dragged” into a patrol car by Officer John Sanders on Jan. 21, 2003, after he and another officer were denied access to a student at Buffalo Traditional High School. District policy requires parental notification.
The officers were following up on a week-old incident involving two students.
Doyle will require surgery to correct a painful neck injury resulting from the arrest, her attorney said.
She was taken to a police station and freed without being charged.
Sanders, an 18-year veteran, was suspended for three months after the incident.
An attorney for the city said she will ask the judge to set aside the jury verdict as “extremely excessive.” If the judge refuses, she said, the city will appeal.
A state Supreme Court jury decided on the award following a weeklong trial and about three hours of deliberations.
Higgins said Doyle, now 49, was handcuffed and “forcibly dragged” into a patrol car by Officer John Sanders on Jan. 21, 2003, after he and another officer were denied access to a student at Buffalo Traditional High School. District policy requires parental notification.
The officers were following up on a week-old incident involving two students.
Doyle will require surgery to correct a painful neck injury resulting from the arrest, her attorney said.
She was taken to a police station and freed without being charged.
Sanders, an 18-year veteran, was suspended for three months after the incident.
An attorney for the city said she will ask the judge to set aside the jury verdict as “extremely excessive.” If the judge refuses, she said, the city will appeal.