LITTLE ROCK — Deborah Purifoy, a former Bauxite alderman, filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against the city, two former police chiefs, one police officer and Mayor Johnny McMahan, who survived a recall effort Nov. 6 that Purifoy led.
In the lawsuit, Purifoy said she served the Saline County town of 487 as an alderman from January 2007 through December 2010.
During that time, she said, she opposed a contract that then-Chief Jimmy Hood proposed in 2010, and exercised her right to support a different candidate for mayor.
She alleges that in retaliation, “Bauxite police, under Hood’s direction, began to systematically oppress” her, leading to her being falsely arrested, physically assaulted and illegally jailed.
The suit notes, “All of the substantive charges against [Purifoy] were eventually dismissed, except for a collateral charge of refusal to submit to the unlawful and politically motivated arrest.”
It further alleges that in 2011, McMahan took office and began slandering Purifoy “and trying to keep her from running for office or being hired by the city.” It cites a Nov. 24, 2011, news release in which McMahan characterized Purifoy as a “rattlesnake,” and says that he mailed documents of her “mug shot” from her 2010 arrest in a campaign against her.
Since then, Ron Parsons, who took over as police chief, and other officers continued to “harass” Purifoy, alleges the lawsuit, filed on her behalf by attorney Reggie Koch of Little Rock.
Purifoy’s arrest record, stemming from the “unlawful” arrest in Bauxite, caused her to be denied a job, the suit says. It noted that according to her would-be employer, her arrest record even reflected a charge that she has never actually incurred — refusal to submit to a chemical test.
The lawsuit, which alleges civil-rights violations, malicious prosecution, abuse of process and infliction of emotional distress, seeks monetary damages.
Assigned to Chief U.S. District Judge Brian S. Miller, the suit cites various “politically motivated” actions it says were taken against Purifoy, including an unlawful police search of her home and removal of property under Parsons.
Despite petitions that Purifoy circulated to get the mayoral recall issue on general election ballots on Nov. 6, voters opted to retain McMahan by a vote of 148 to 127.
Arkansas, Pages 14 on 11/28/2012