DAYTON — A settlement was recently reached in a lawsuit involving Dayton police officers.
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Dayton city commissioners recently approved a $27,500 settlement for a case involving Toi-Allyson Kolowena.
Kolowena, a Butler County woman, sued four officers — Elyzabeth McDonald, Riley Brown, Dorain Mercer, and Jordan Fader — in 2024, accusing them of excessive force, intentional infliction of emotional distress, malicious prosecution, and conspiracy.
The lawsuit, originally filed in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court before being filed in federal court, alleged that, in April 2022, officers wrongfully arrested and charged her.
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Kolowena’s younger sister requested that the police respond to a residence on Danner Avenue on April 23, 2022. After the officers got to the scene, they placed her sister under arrest.
After the officers got “clearly aggressive and elevated in their engagement with the minor and others at the scene,” Kolowena started to record the incident on her phone.
Brown allegedly “became angry” at Kolowena for recording the incident and, alongside Mercer, “suddenly and without justification violently grabbed” her to restrain her.
“As Defendants Brown and Mercer violently grabbed (Kolowena), Officers McDonald and Faber joined in the attack,” the lawsuit states, adding that they used their combined weight and force to pin her down.
Kolowena claimed to have “suffered severe and permanent physical pain and injuries and was diagnosed with a concussion, closed head injury, knee sprains and contusions.”
She claimed she was then charged with misconduct at an emergency and obstruction of official business in “an attempt to cover up their illegal conduct.”
She was found not guilty of those charges in August 2023, according to the lawsuit.
News Center 7 has reached out to the Dayton Police Department for a comment on the settlement. We have not received a response at the time of this report.
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