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DALLAS (AP) — A beauty pageant winner has sued a Texas city and its former police chief over an evading arrest charge that was later dropped.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports Carmen Ponder filed the federal civil rights lawsuit Monday in Dallas over her May 2017 arrest in Commerce. Ponder won the Miss Black Texas competition in 2016.
Ponder's lawsuit says Commerce's then-police Chief Kerry Crews, who was off-duty, arrested her without reason during a confrontation over a traffic incident involving another driver.
Crews resigned the following month, took an administrative job with the city and now is a justice of the peace.
Commerce City Manager Darrek Ferrell and the city's attorney, Jay Garrett, declined comment on Ponder's lawsuit. Crews didn't immediately return a message for comment Wednesday.
Commerce is 60 miles (96.56 kilometers) northeast of Dallas.
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Information from: Fort Worth Star-Telegram, http://www.star-telegram.com
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