An unexpected civil rights lawsuit has put a San Bernardino police arrest under renewed scrutiny, with an 18-year-old woman alleging that an officer body-slammed her while she was handcuffed. The lawsuit centers on Erin Marie Cowser, who says the force used during a May 2025 encounter left her with a concussion, memory loss, and other injuries. Beyond the physical harm, the case raises a sharper issue: whether officers later repeated a false account of what happened, even after video evidence surfaced.
Lawsuit Details and the Arrest Account
Cowser was 17 at the time of the incident, which took place near a Food 4 Less in San Bernardino after a disturbance involving several teens. The lawsuit says she was leaving the store when she was attacked by another teen, while a security guard used pepper spray to stop the assaults. It then says San Bernardino police officers Jackson Tubbs and Cynthia Guillen arrived and saw Cowser walking across the parking lot toward a friend.
From there, the accounts sharply diverge. The lawsuit says Tubbs rushed up behind Cowser, grabbed her backpack, yanked her backward, and pinned her arms behind her back without warning, probable cause, or lawful justification. It also says she was never told she was under arrest or given commands to comply before being handcuffed. The complaint further alleges that the same officer later body-slammed her face-first to the ground and forced her face into the metal floor of a patrol vehicle. The keyword lawsuit appears here because the filing is now the center of the dispute over what officers did and what they said afterward.
Injuries, Memory Loss, and Competing Accounts
Cowser says she suffered a concussion, memory loss, cuts, bruises, and other injuries. The second account provided in the case says she also lost consciousness, sustained a traumatic brain injury, and suffered a deep facial laceration that required stitches and left permanent scarring, along with wrist and back injuries. In her written statement, she said, “I remember being terrified — and then I don’t remember anything at all. ” She added that she woke up hurt, confused, and told things that she later learned were not true.
The lawsuit also claims that officers repeatedly lied about how her injuries happened, including telling her family that other juveniles were responsible. Her attorney, Toni Jaramilla, says body-worn camera footage and witness video captured the incident and showed the officer was lying. Jaramilla also says the department failed to correct the false narrative, even after video evidence emerged. The keyword lawsuit is also central to the question of accountability that now surrounds the department’s public response.
San Bernardino Police Response and Broader Stakes
released two days after the incident, the San Bernardino Police Department said the officer was trying to handcuff Cowser and used a takedown maneuver after she pulled away and attempted to walk off. The department also said Cowser was arrested for trespassing and attempting to fight others, linking the event to earlier contact at a nearby transit center. A spokesperson could not be reached for comment on the case, and later the department said it could not comment on pending litigation.
What makes this case significant is not only the force allegation, but the challenge to the official narrative. If the allegations hold, the lawsuit suggests a deeper problem than a single arrest: the possibility that the explanation given to the family and the public did not match the video record. That raises questions about internal review, transparency, and how quickly a department should correct itself when its own account is disputed.
Expert Perspectives and What Comes Next
Toni Jaramilla, Cowser’s attorney, said the incident was captured by body-worn cameras and witness videos, and described the matter as one of accountability. In a written statement, he said the department “failed to correct the false narrative” even when videos proved the officer was lying. He added that the case is about ending a culture in which violence is excused and the truth is buried.
On the department side, the only official position in the record remains its use-of-force explanation and its later refusal to comment on pending litigation. The case now turns on whether the videos, the officers’ statements, and Cowser’s injuries can be reconciled. For San Bernardino, the lawsuit is also a test of whether a disputed arrest can remain a narrow incident or become a broader measure of institutional credibility.
The larger question is simple: if the evidence shows that the official version was wrong, how far should the correction go, and who is responsible for making it public? That answer may determine how far this lawsuit reaches beyond one arrest in one parking lot.
