LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Two women wrongly accused of assault said a former Louisville Metro Police officer changed their lives forever when he arrested them.
John David Green is facing two counts of perjury after prosecutors said he misrepresented statements of a victim that ultimately led to two women wrongfully being charged with assault.
The two women, Jorian Stigall and Christian Murphy, were charged with assault after Green wrote and testified that the pair jumped another woman and "stomped" on her until her leg broke in March 2017 at an apartment complex off Breckinridge Lane. However, according to prosecutors, the victim in the case actually told Green that she had no idea how her leg was broken.
Green is accused of repeating the lie during a probable cause hearing and during testimony to a grand jury. The grand jury chose not to indict Stigall or Murphy.
"It was traumatizing the way we were treated and talked to and arrested and everything," Murphy said Wednesday. "I don't want to deal with any more police. I would rather call a family member or an uncle before I'll call the police department to help me with something, because they didn't help me. They traumatized me."
Murphy and Stigall filed a federal lawsuit in 2017 against Green and the city in U.S. District Court. Louisville Metro Government doesn't comment on pending litigation.
"We have individuals that were arrested and telling the truth," said Shaun Wimberly Sr., the women's attorney. "It's not just being wrongfully arrested. ... The way they were treated when being questioned is unacceptable."
Green is also facing criminal charges for a separate unrelated case involving a possible wrongful arrest.
Prosecutors allege Green charged Shayla Simpson for theft in 2018 and then falsely testified there was surveillance video showing she stole from her employer even though the evidence clearly showed she didn't.
A lawsuit filed by Simpson in September 2019 also claims Green forged documents and told Simpson he would drop the case if she paid him $2,000, an offer she refused.
Simpson was initially charged in a criminal case in Jefferson Circuit Court, but the Commonwealth's Attorney's Office requested it be dismissed. Forbush-Moss filed a motion in April telling Jefferson Circuit Court Judge Brian Edwards that Simpson was wrongfully accused and that surveillance video of the theft "clearly" showed another employee stole the money.
In the federal lawsuit, Simpson claims she called police Aug. 15, 2018, when she learned the deposit from the night before was missing from the McDonald's where she worked.
That lawsuit was settled for $150,000 in January.
Green has pleaded not guilty in both cases, which are pending in Jefferson Circuit Court.
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