A woman suing the city of Phoenix and its police department after she suffered severe burns while being held down on hot pavement during an arrest may continue to pursue an excessive force claim, a federal judge ruled this week. However, the judge dismissed her claim of unlawful seizure and false arrest, writing that the arresting officers had sufficient probable cause to detain her.
Last May, Clarissa Sabedra sued the department over the arrest, which resulted in admission to a Valleywise Health burn unit, where she underwent a debridement to remove damaged tissue. She initially faced resisting arrest and disorderly conduct charges, but both were ultimately dismissed.
Sabedra, who is now 29, was arrested on June 1, 2024, by Phoenix police officers responding to reports of a domestic dispute. According to video and court documents, Sabedra went limp when officers Kyle Snider and Nicholas Gastelum tried to get her out of a chair on the shaded porch where she was sitting so they could handcuff her. They then moved her limp body out of the shady porch onto a patch of pavement in the sun, where the officers held her down, with Snider straddling her, for about two minutes while they cuffed her…