Ex-reporter who 'caught police brutality on camera' sues officer who 'illegally took footage and deleted it'

A former NBC-affiliate reporter has sued the city and a police officer, claiming that the law enforcer deleted police brutality from a video.

In the lawsuit, former KOB anchor and reporter Cristina Rodda alleges that she filmed Albuquerque officer Stephanie Lopez pushing a patron to the ground of a nightclub last year.

Rodda said she went to the Tumbleweeds club after receiving a tip that the club was allowing underage people to attend a ‘rave’

Ms Rodda is now suing Lopez and the City of Albuquerque in Federal Court, as first reported by Courthouse News Service.

On the night of April 29, 2011, Rodda was on assignment at Tumbleweeds, and was filming the club’s entrance from the parking lot, where she said she captured an officer – allegedly Lopez – shoving a young patron to the ground.

According to ABC News, Lopez had been disciplined in the past for brutality.

Lopez, along with another officer, asked for Rodda to leave the venue, and demanded her camera tape.

When Ms Rodda refused, Lopez allegedly frisked the reporter’s purse without her consent and confiscated the camera.

The tape was returned to KOB some days later, but the clip in question had been deleted.

Lopez later admitted that she took the camera home and did not properly label it as evidence.

Rodda’s lawyer, B.J. Crowe, told ABC News: ‘We have proof that she deleted the clip. It’s a pretty egregious case.’

He added that Lopez likely thought she could ‘get away with it’ because of her law-enforcement status.

Rodda herself was charged with criminal trespassing in the April 2011 incident and went to trial for the charges in February.

However, that case never made it to court, as there was insufficient evidence.

ABC News reports that Rodda is seeking unspecified medical and punitive damages, as well as the cost of attorney’s fees.

The Albuquerque Police Department and Lopez did not return ABC News’ calls for comment.

Rodda currently works as the director of public information for the New Mexico Corrections Department.

Had enough?  Write to the Speaker of the House, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515 and demand federal hearings into the police problem in America.  Demand mandatory body cameras for cops, one strike rule on abuse, and a permanent  DOJ office on Police Misconduct.