YARMOUTH, Mass. (WHDH) — Teresa Starling admitted she had too much to drink, she also admit ed that she said some things she shouldn't have said. Even with those admissions, Starling said the male police officers mishandled her when she was arrested, and she has the bruises to back it up.
"I was mishandled, I was mistreated, and my body can show that,” she said.
Starling, a registered nurse from Dennisport, said the bruises all over her body prove that Yarmouth police officers went too far while arresting her Monday morning.
"I was cussing at them, I admit it. I was groped inappropriately on the scene by a police officer,” she said. "As soon as he did that I did kick him. Rightfully so, after I was groped. They took me down to the ground and just mishandled me for the rest of the night.”
The police officers involved told a different story. They say that after pulling Starling and Alton Gayle over on South Street in Yarmouth, officers say she made death threats and used racial slurs, even going as far to say that if they "end up on my operating table, I’m going to make sure you all die."
"Yes, I apologized for what I said to those to those police officers because I was under the influence of alcohol, and I do admit that it was an inappropriate statement to make, but that doesn't mean I deserve to be beaten down by armed men in handcuffs,” Starling said.