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A Black teenager in California is suing the City of San Bernardino and two police officers after a violent 2025 arrest left her with a traumatic brain injury, facial injuries, and lasting emotional distress, according to a newly filed lawsuit.
Erin Marie Cowser, now 18, was 17 when San Bernardino police responded to a fight call outside a Food 4 Less on May 21, 2025.
According to, NBC Los Angeles, her lawsuit says she was actually the victim of an assault by other teens inside the store when Officer Jackson Tubbs grabbed her from behind by her SpongeBob SquarePants backpack, pinned her arms back, and slammed her face-first onto the pavement. The complaint names Tubbs, Officer Cynthia Guillen, and the city as defendants.
Video of the arrest has become central to the case. Cellphone footage and body camera video were cited by Cowser’s attorneys as evidence contradicting the police narrative. The footage appears to show Tubbs pulling Cowser away and taking her to the ground, after which she was seen bleeding from the face.
Cowser’s lawyers say the force used against her was both excessive and unprovoked. At a press conference announcing the suit, attorney Toni J. Jaramilla said Tubbs performed “a hip toss that flipped Erin in the air,” leaving her to land “face-first, head-first on the concrete.” In a statement, per ABC7, Jaramilla said, “This was not a mistake — it was violence, followed by dishonesty.”
The lawsuit says Cowser lost consciousness and suffered a traumatic brain injury, memory loss, a deep laceration under her chin, facial abrasions, wrist and back injuries, and permanent scarring. It also alleges that after she was knocked unconscious, Tubbs lifted her and dropped her face-first onto the metal floor sill of his patrol car. Those allegations come from the complaint itself and have not been proven in court.
Cowser told ABC7 that when she regained consciousness in the back of the patrol car, she saw blood on her body and asked the officer what happened. “He was like, ‘You fell,’” she said, before losing consciousness again.
The department publicly described the arrest differently at the time. In a May 2025 statement, San Bernardino police said Cowser had been detained on suspicion of trespassing and attempting to fight other juveniles, and that an officer used a “takedown maneuver” after she allegedly pulled away while only one wrist was handcuffed.
But Cowser’s attorneys say that version left out key facts. The lawsuit alleges officers falsely told Cowser’s family that her injuries were caused by other juveniles, not police force. It also claims Tubbs later admitted during an internal use-of-force investigation that he lied about how she was injured, though the department never publicly corrected its earlier account. That allegation appears in the complaint.
The misdemeanor charges against Cowser were later dropped. Her lawsuit now accuses the officers and the city of civil rights violations under California law, assault and battery, and negligence.
The San Bernardino Police Department told ABC7 it could not comment because of the pending litigation.
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