An excessive force lawsuit against the Fort Collins police officer who was captured on video slamming a 22-year-old woman face first into the ground will proceed to trial, after a federal judge declined to dismiss the case.

In his July 13 order, U.S. District Court Judge William J. Martínez determined Officer Randall Klamser did not deserve qualified immunity for his conduct on the night of April 6, 2017 because a jury could reasonably conclude that the force he used to subdue Michaella Lynn Surat was unreasonable.

“Given the totality of the circumstances, the Court finds that Klamser should have been on notice that his alleged actions – slamming a woman approximately half his size into the ground because she was resisting arrest for a misdemeanor – would violate clearly established law,” Martínez wrote.

Andy McNulty, an attorney with Killmer Lane & Newman who represents Surat, said the judge’s order was evidence that attitudes toward excessive police force are changing in the country.

“It’s an outrageous example of police brutality, and the fact that Fort Collins hasn’t owned up to this at all is an indictment of their entire police department,” he said.

Surat was a student at Colorado State University and was celebrating her twenty-second birthday when Klamser and another Fort Collins officer arrived at Bondi Beach Bar to respond to a disturbance involving Surat’s then-boyfriend.

Body-worn camera footage uploaded online depicted the officers talking to the bouncer outside when Surat walked past. Accounts differed about whether Surat physically bumped into the men and tried to pull her boyfriend away, but the footage then showed Klamser telling Surat to “back off” while she protested and said that “you don’t need to [expletive] touch me.”

Klamser informed her she was under arrest, prompting Surat to ask, “What did I do?”

“I don’t wanna throw you on the ground,” Klamser warned, while Surat continued to physically and verbally resist.

Seconds later, Klamser used a “rowing arm takedown” to slam Surat to the ground. Bystander video appeared to show Surat’s chin hitting the ground first, causing her to reportedly sustain a concussion, contusions to her face, bruising and a cervical spine strain. The video went viral online.

“All my bones were shattering in my face and I was just so humiliated because everyone was watching me,” Surat told ABC News.

A Larimer County jury found Surat guilty of obstructing a peace officer and resisting arrest in August 2018. A judge sentenced her to one year of probation, community service and a “Making Better Choices” class.

After Surat filed her civil lawsuit, Klamser asserted he was entitled to qualified immunity, a judicial doctrine that shields government employees from liability absent a violation of clearly-established legal rights. Typically, that means there has been a prior court decision putting officers on notice that their conduct under a particular set of circumstances is unreasonable.

“Given Plaintiff’s level of resistance and anger, and because Officer Klamser expected Plaintiff to try and hit him again, he used a rowing arm takedown to take Plaintiff down to the ground and place her under arrest,” wrote attorneys for Klamser in arguing his actions were constitutional. “Officer Klamser determined the rowing arm take down was the only thing he had left to use, because he did not want to use any impact weapons or tools.”

The judge noted that Surat was 22 years old and 115 pounds, and Klamser was six feet tall and approximately 200 pounds. She was unarmed and apparently not assaulting the officer before he slammed her to the ground, nor was she suspected of committing a severe infraction. Previous court rulings had found excessive force to be unjustified under those types of conditions.

Taken together, “Surat has presented evidence from which a reasonable juror could conclude that she was not an immediate threat to Klamser’s safety,” Martínez wrote in declining to award qualified immunity to Klamser.

Martínez also allowed Surat’s claim to proceed against the city of Fort Collins for a failure to train its officers. He acknowledged testimony that Klamser acted in accordance with the department’s policies when using the rowing arm takedown, including a police spokesperson’s statement that Klamser employed “standard arrest control.” The judge concluded a jury could find the city liable on those grounds.

Attorneys for Klamser and the city said they are still reviewing the judge’s order, and noted that Klamser currently works as a sergeant in the police department.

Surat’s lawsuit cited multiple instances of excessive force involving the Fort Collins Police Services. In March 2020, the city settled for $450,000 with two women who sustained injuries in interactions with police. In 2017, the city also settled for $150,000 after an officer reportedly entered a home without consent and pepper sprayed a man.

The case is Surat v. Klamser et al.