David Gabbard has filed a lawsuit regarding the confrontation, which allegedly took place last year. It says that Officer Scott Townsley — the trooper who pulled Gabbard over — and two other troopers, Joshua Roaden and Brandon Scalf, arrived at Gabbard's Jackson County home that he shared with a woman, approaching from two sides.
The suit says that Gabbard went to talk to the officers, and the woman — Diana Muncy — started recording the encounter on her cellphone.
"I did not harass you yesterday," Townsley says on the recording, according to the lawsuit. "I don't care if everybody knew what you meant. I knew what you meant… That's the only thing. I knew what you meant."
"Just love being pulled over for no reason lmao. #maybenexttime. #policeharasment (sic)," Gabbard's Facebook post read.
The recording is not accessible through the court file, local media reports. The lawsuit goes on to say that another trooper took Muncy's phone — with which she was recording the encounter — and turned it off. "Things escalated quickly," the filing says, alleging that Townsley attempted to instigate a fight, pushing and slapping Gabbard and kicking his dog.
After Gabbard said he did not want to fight cops, Townsley took off his badge and gun, challenging Gabbard to fisticuffs with a regular citizen, the suit says.
911 dispatchers told Muncy after she called in that they wouldn't send police because "the police were already present," the suit, which includes the transcript of the call, says.
The lawsuit seeks restitution in the form of an unspecified amount of money.
