- Teen victim assaulted by police despite being the one attacked
- Police lied about incident and failed to provide medical care
- Lawsuit alleges excessive force and department’s refusal to correct false claims
The boys (and girls) in blue never miss an opportunity to physically abuse a citizen.
The Los Angeles Times is reporting on yet another disturbing example of police violence, this time involving an 18-year-old girl named Erin Cowser. Cowser filed a lawsuit accusing San Bernardino police officer Jackson Tubbs (who was accompanied by his partner Officer Cynthia Guillen) of violently slamming her face-first onto the pavement while she was already handcuffed during a May 2025 incident outside a Food 4 Less store.
What makes the situation especially egregious is that a then-17-year-old Cowser wasn’t committing a crime; in fact, she had just been attacked by a group of teenagers and was walking away when officers arrived. Instead of helping her, officers allegedly escalated the situation by grabbing her from behind and throwing her to the ground with such force that she suffered a concussion, memory loss, and multiple facial injuries.
Warning: The following video is disturbing
Cowser says she was never told she was under arrest, never given commands, and never posed a threat. Witnesses on the scene reportedly co-signed that account, telling officers that Cowser was the one who had been assaulted.
Instead of admitting their error and taking responsibility, you can probably guess what happened next: an alleged cover-up.
According to the lawsuit, Tubbs and Guillen didn’t just use force; they repeatedly lied about it. They claimed Cowser’s injuries came from the teen fight. They even went so far as to tell that version of events to her family while she was hospitalized. This wildly false narrative persisted despite body camera footage and witness videos contradicting it.
On the way to the hospital, Tubbs reportedly called Cowser’s mother, Tanya Brownridge, and “told her that they were transporting her daughter to the hospital due to her fighting with other juveniles and receiving a ‘little cut from [the] fight on [the] face.’ Guillen never spoke up to correct him. This lie was captured on body-worn video,” the lawsuit alleges.
The department, of course, offered its lame standard-issue defense, claiming the teen was resisting and that the takedown was justified. But that explanation rings hollow when stacked against video evidence and the severity of her injuries.
In the suit, Cowser’s attorney didn’t mince words, accusing the department not only of brutality but of refusing to correct false statements even after evidence surfaced. The lawsuit also alleges that officers failed to provide immediate medical care.
