Surfside Beach Police Department Facing Lawsuit

A woman is seeking a settlement on behalf of her extreme mental and emotional distress caused by an incident.

A woman has filed a lawsuit against the Surfside Beach Police Department and one of its sergeants.

Jessica Melton is suing the department on claims that Sergeant, John Gambone, pulled a car over that belonged to Melton, who was riding as a passenger.

While the car was pulled over, Gambone informed her that she was being arrested due to a pending warrant out against her. Melton alleges that when she asked for an explanation of the warrant, he put her in handcuffs. She added that as she was being arrested, she asked multiple times if she could get her medication and in response Gambone said he was going to take her to the ground and hurt her for resisting arrest.

The lawsuit states that while Melton’s hands were behind her back, Gambone violently threw her to the ground, face first, which resulted in her losing consciousness, suffering from serious, permanent injuries to her face and brain.

Melton is seeking a settlement on behalf of her extreme mental and emotional distress caused by the incident.

Surfside Beach has not yet commented.