Iraq war veteran suing police after being pepper sprayed for showing signs of PTSD

The Minneapolis Police Department is being sued by an Iraq War veteran who claims an officer pepper sprayed and arrested him for no reason.

While the police report claims that veteran Ryan Carlson deserved to be detained in such a forceful manner, the veteran-turned law student warns that not everything is as simple as it looks.

According to the police report filled out by arresting MPD Officer Adam Lepinski, the altercation took place in September of last year outside a downtown bar.

The report says that Carlson reportedly looked like he was going to fight the lawman, so the officer preemptively pepper sprayed him.

“It’s like wow. It’s like why is this cop making this up?” Carlson said, expressing disbelief in regard to the police report.

While Carlson admits drinking, he claims he was pepper sprayed and arrested at random and without explanation.

A war veteran with two Iraq tours under his belt, Carlson said he was insulted by a stereotype written by the officer in the police report: “It appeared to me that Carlson may be an emotionally disturbed person suffering from military-related PTSD”

“To use that against me, I think that’s insane. Why would you use the fact I served in the military to somehow say that I’m crazy. That’s actually a horrible stereotype. It really is,” Carlson said.

A law student, Carlson said he is taking this matter to the courts.

“I go to law school. I was really hoping the justice system would work, and it did,” he said.

According to KARE11, the veteran is suing the city of Minneapolis under the grounds of excessive force, false arrest and first amendment retaliation.

“It’s a good case for a lawsuit because an innocent person got hurt and ended up in jail. And that should never happen,” said attorney Zorislav Leyderman, who added that nobody should be injured for asking questions..

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