Vallejo police release body camera footage of 2018 violent arrest of woman at home

VALLEJO – The Vallejo Police Department released body camera footage last week of the arrest of a woman at her home in 2018, which led to a lawsuit alleging that the officer broke her arm, caused a gash on her head and bruises on her body.

Sherry Graff was arrested on April 24, 2018, after Officer Brian Murphy arrived at her home, called her outside and accused her of using drugs. Video of her arrest was released under California law that requires the release of records from police interactions that result in great bodily injury. However, the video was withheld for years while a criminal case against Graff was resolved.

Graff was charged with resisting arrest and being under the influence of a controlled substance. Her lawsuit was placed on hold during the criminal case, which was resolved earlier this year when the Solano County District Attorney’s Office dismissed the charges. 

According to a declaration from Vallejo Assistant City Attorney Katelyn Knight, Murphy was called to the home because of a “disturbance.” After he called Graff outside, he "observed that she had difficulty keeping track of her thoughts and was speaking incoherently,” Knight wrote. He said he was placing her under arrest, but Graff “would not cooperate” and struggled with Murphy, causing her injuries.

But Graff’s lawsuit questions why Murphy arrested Graff at all given that she wasn’t allegedly intoxicated in public but her own home. Graff started to cry when Murphy said she would be arrested, but he grabbed her and threw her off the porch and onto the cement below. 

Graff, who was 52 at the time, suffers from obvious physical deformities to her arms and hands and is extremely frail, according to her lawsuit. She was bloody and bruised, but Murphy continued to pat her down, and ignored her pleas to have a female officer respond. 

Later, Graff asked for an ambulance to take her to the hospital, but Murphy insisted on taking her to the hospital himself, according to the lawsuit. She was treated for fractures to her arm, a gash on her head that required several staples, and severe bruising to her body, her lawsuit states. 

Graff filed her lawsuit later that year, alleging that Murphy unlawfully arrested her and used excessive force. The lawsuit is scheduled to go to trial in 2025.