Deputy asked her for ID without saying why. Now she’s charged with assaulting him.

A Pompano Beach woman who is accused of attacking a Broward deputy who forced her car door open is asking a judge to dismiss the criminal case against her, pointing to the deputy’s bodycam footage as evidence the deputy was the aggressor.

In another case of both sides pointing to video to denounce and defend the actions of a law enforcement officer, Kianna Cooper, 28, is asking Broward Circuit Judge Peter Holden to dismiss the charges accusing her of aggravated battery on Sheriff’s Deputy Steven Davis.

The video shows a confrontation that quickly escalates from a request for identification to a violent clash, with the officer’s blood spilling onto the asphalt from his busted lip. Cooper’s lawyer is accusing the deputy of resorting to an unnecessary use of force against a woman who was unarmed and not posing a threat, but refusing to show her ID without knowing why the deputy wanted to see it.

Bodycam footage has been a central feature of cases for nearly a decade in Broward. In most cases, they are used to confirm official accounts of routine arrests and investigations. Occasionally, prosecutors introduce them as evidence of wrongdoing by law enforcement officers. Often, attorneys representing accused officers rely on the same video to vindicate their actions.

Cooper’s arrest took place on May 7, 2022. Cooper was parked in the 300 block of North Pompano Beach Boulevard, one block east of State Road A1A, where she had planned to meet with friends to celebrate her 27th birthday. Her lawyer, Stephen Melnick, said Cooper had gotten into an argument with other beach patrons because she was trying to save parking spaces for her friends. “She was ready to leave that area to avoid the argument,” Melnick said.

But someone who witnessed the dispute thought it was serious enough to call the Broward Sheriff’s Office, and Davis responded a few minutes before 9 a.m. According to his bodycam footage, the argument appeared to be over by the time he arrived.

Cooper was alone, inside her car, and no one was near her. Davis’ patrol vehicle prevented Cooper from backing out.

“How are you doing? Do you have an ID on you, ma’am?” Davis asked.

“Why am I giving my ID?” Cooper replied.

“Because I asked for it,” Davis said, giving no indication that he was responding to a call about the earlier disturbance.

“OK, I no longer feel comfortable because I don’t have a problem here,” Cooper said.

“Well, I’m asking for your ID and if you don’t produce it, I’m going to take you to jail,” Davis said.

Police have a wide degree of latitude when it comes to demanding identification from citizens. According to the American Civil Liberties union, law enforcement officers can ask for ID from anyone suspected of a crime or a traffic violation. Lindsay Chase, president of the Broward Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said a police officer is not required to tell a person that he or she is suspected of a crime.

“The first question here is whether she was suspected of committing a crime,” said Chase, who is not involved in the case and did not see the bodycam footage. “Was the officer lawfully engaged in an investigation?”

Davis says he was. But according to Melnick, there was no evidence that a crime was committed, much less under investigation. “People yelling at each other over a parking space is not a crime,” he said.

What happened next is also in dispute, even though it’s captured on video. Cooper appears to rifle through her wallet while talking to her mother on her cellphone. She does not produce a driver’s license. Davis threatens to pull her out if she does not comply, but Cooper refuses.

Then Davis reaches for the door and opens it. Davis tries to shut it, but Cooper reaches again and forces it open.

“Sir, please! Why are you being aggressive?” Cooper says. It’s not clear what happens after Davis forces the door open. Davis’ hands are not on Cooper as she steps out of her car, but she had already expressed a fear for her safety before her door was forced open.

Melnick is arguing there was no reason to open her door, and everything that happened from that point on was the deputy’s fault.

In the video, Cooper ends up on the ground, with Davis’ blood falling next to her.

“You are not going to punch me!” Cooper says. “What’s wrong with you? You just hit a woman!”

Cooper’s mug shot, taken that day, shows her with a bruise under her left eye.

In a later, sworn interview, Davis said, “She lunged at me when I went to grab her … I grabbed her by her hair to try and take her to the ground.” He also said Cooper caused his mouth to bleed profusely, though the bodycam footage does not show the cause of his injury.

In the same interview, Davis said several people pointed to Cooper when he arrived at the scene. “They were all pointing at the female in the car saying ‘That’s her, that’s her,'” he said. The bodycam footage does not confirm that account: No one else is visible, and the sound is muted as Davis approaches Cooper’s car.

Davis has been a deputy since the Broward Sheriff’s Office took over the Oakland Park Police Department in 2000. He’s had four substantiated Internal Affairs complaints, including one for lack of public courtesy. He was only suspended for one — for calling a fellow deputy a “coward” in a Facebook comment.

Both Cooper and Davis offered their accounts at a pre-trial hearing last week in front of Judge Holden. The judge has not scheduled a hearing for closing arguments on that motion.

Rafael Olmeda can be reached at rolmeda@sunsentinel.com or 954-356-4457.