Arkansas trooper threw teen down and punched her in the face during traffic stop, lawsuit says

U.S. newsArkansas trooper threw teen down and punched her in the face during traffic stop, lawsuit saysA lawsuit filed by Alisa Hackett, 18, says that the trooper hit her in “a closed-fist blow to the side of the face” because she “talked back to him.”Listen to this article with a free profile00:0000:00ShareAdd NBC News to GoogleAug. 12, 2026, 2:29 PM EDTBy Daniella SilvaAn 18-year-old Black woman filed a lawsuit this week against an Arkansas State Police trooper she said “slammed her to the ground and struck her in the face” during a traffic stop.Alisa Hackett filed a federal lawsuit Monday against trooper Moisses Arellano over an incident that took place on Aug. 1. According to the lawsuit, Hackett posed no threat to anyone and was unarmed. She was suspected of, at most, a minor traffic offense when she was stopped in Mississippi County, Arkansas, by Arellano, the suit said.“Arellano struck her because she talked back to him — because she questioned him, objected to what he was doing, and declined to be silent while he did it,” the lawsuit said. “A closed-fist blow to the face of an unarmed eighteen-year-old girl is not a permissible answer to speech, and it is not a permissible answer to a detainee who pulls her arm away during handcuffing.”The Arkansas State Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment. NBC News was not able to reach Arellano for comment.According to the lawsuit, the trooper’s use-of-force report indicated that he struck Hackett’s face. “After giving multiple commands for her to roll over without compliance, I delivered one closed-fist strike to the left side of her face in an attempt to gain compliance,” Arellano wrote in the incident report, according to CBS News. “After the strike, she continued resisting by pulling her wrists away and refusing to roll over.”Attorney Benjamin Crump is representing Hackett and calling for a use-of-force investigation. Crump said Hackett was booked at 12:51 a.m. on Aug. 2 in Mississippi County ja...