Jonesboro, AR – Jonesboro Right Now – An 18-year-old Osceola woman has filed a federal civil-rights lawsuit against an Arkansas State Police trooper who took her to the ground and struck her in the face during an Aug. 1 traffic stop near Manila. At the same time, Arkansas State Police says it has no statement on the incident.
The incident involving Alisa N. Hackett has drawn widespread attention after video of the traffic stop and arrest was released publicly.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in the Jonesboro Division of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, identifies Trooper Moisses Arellano as the sole defendant. The case is Hackett v. Arellano, No. 3:26-cv-00230.
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The complaint alleges excessive force in violation of Hackett’s Fourth Amendment rights and retaliation for protected speech under the First Amendment. It seeks compensatory and punitive damages, attorneys’ fees and other costs and requests a jury trial.
According to the complaint, Hackett was unarmed, did not attempt to flee and did not strike, kick, bite, spit at or threaten the trooper. It alleges that Arellano used excessive force when he took Hackett to the ground and punched her in the face.
The complaint also alleges that the force was used in retaliation after Hackett questioned the reason for her arrest. Those allegations have not been proven in court.
What happened during the traffic stop
The traffic stop occurred around 10:42 p.m. Aug. 1 near Manila. According to the Arkansas State Police (ASP) incident report, Arellano initially observed Hackett’s vehicle traveling with its hazard lights activated and passing other traffic. The report said he later recorded a radar speed of 71 mph in a 60-mph zone.
The encounter also involved allegations that Hackett was not wearing a seat belt, had an improperly displayed license plate, and had a bottle of liquor in the vehicle. Hackett was 18 and therefore under the legal drinking age.
The report says that Hackett was charged with:
- Refusal to submit to arrest
- Purchase or possession of alcohol by minor
- Speeding – 1 to 15 MPH over limit
- No Seatbelt
- Improper display of license tags
- Veh. Lights – special restrictions on lamps
According to the narrative provided by Arellano, Hackett initially cooperated but later pulled her arms away when he attempted to take her into custody. Arellano then took Hackett to the ground and ordered her to roll over.
The trooper’s account says Hackett, once on the ground, refused repeated commands to roll over and continued pulling her wrists away. According to the report, this prompted Arellano to deliver one closed-fist strike to the left side of her face “to gain compliance.”
According to the report, Arellano subsequently displayed a Taser and activated its laser without firing it. Hackett then complied and was handcuffed.
Emergency medical personnel evaluated Hackett at the scene. Previous reporting said EMS found no visible injuries, although Hackett reported leg pain. Hackett was transported to the Mississippi County Detention Center.
Hackett’s mother disputes the account
Hackett’s mother, Angie Gavin, told Jonesboro Right Now that her daughter’s account of the traffic stop and arrest is substantially different. Gavin said Hackett told her she followed the trooper’s instructions and did not realize she was being arrested when she turned toward him.
“She said, ‘I wasn’t resisting. I did everything he told me to do,'” Gavin said.
According to Gavin, Hackett turned toward Arellano because she was trying to understand why she was being arrested.
“She said, ‘I just turned to the side and asked him what did I do wrong?'” Gavin explained. Gavin said her daughter told her both hands were behind her back at the time.
“She said, ‘I know better, not to fight with the police,'” Gavin said. “She said, ‘I wasn’t resisting. He’s bigger than me. Why would I fight him?'”
Gavin also disputed the suggestion that her daughter was intoxicated. She said the bottle of alcohol found in the vehicle did not belong to Hackett and that her daughter had not been drinking.
“Both times she was never drunk, and she never was drinking,” Gavin said.
Mother says daughter sought medical attention
Gavin also disputes how her daughter’s medical complaints were handled after the arrest. Gavin said Hackett told her she was experiencing pain after being taken to the ground and asked about an ambulance.
Gavin, who said she works as a respiratory therapist at NEA Baptist Hospital in Jonesboro, said she believed her daughter’s complaints should have been taken seriously.
Gavin said she later took Hackett to a hospital in Osceola after Hackett was released. She said Hackett was given pain medication and had a doctor’s appointment Monday.
According to the incident report from ASP, medical personnel arrived on scene and evaluated Hackett for injuries, determining that she displayed no visible injuries. Arellano also said in his narrative that he, along with medical personnel, examined the inside of her cheek where she was struck and no injuries were observed.
“Ms. Hackett complained of leg pain from being taken to the ground,” the narrative reads. “Medical personnel observed no visible injuries, although her legs were shaking, which was presumed to be the result of her being upset.”
The incident report concludes that, “Ultimately, Ms. Hackett voiced more complaints regarding the use of force than any actual physical injuries.”
The two accounts have not been independently reconciled.
ASP: No statement at this time
JRN contacted Arkansas State Police Chief Information Officer Cindy Murphy seeking the agency’s response to the incident and information about Arellano’s tenure with the agency.
Murphy responded that Arkansas State Police doesn’t “have a statement on this incident.” Murphy also said she had not been given information about the result of any internal use-of-force investigation. She also confirmed that Arkansas State Police troopers do not use body cameras.
According to Murphy, Arellano has been employed with ASP less than a year. He began with the state police on Sept. 28, 2025, and transferred to Troop C on Jan. 4 of this year.
Change in attorneys
The lawsuit was initially filed Monday by attorney Luther Oneal Sutter of Sutter & Gillham PLLC.
Sutter subsequently told NEA Report that Hackett notified him Monday afternoon that she was terminating his representation and had retained civil-rights attorney Ben Crump. NEA Report reported that Hackett sent Sutter a letter notifying him of the change.
Crump’s law firm has announced that he now represents Hackett and has called for Arkansas State Police to conduct a use-of-force investigation through its Office of Professional Standards and release the findings publicly.
Crump has also called for the release of any previous use-of-force reports involving Arellano.
The change in attorneys is consistent with what Gavin told Jonesboro Right Now during an interview Monday. Gavin said Hackett had initially spoken with Sutter but had not signed a representation agreement with him and had instead retained Crump.
JRN spoke with Kareem Ali, a lead regional investigator for the Ben Crump Law Firm, who stated that Hackett would be speaking to national news outlets this week. When JRN asked to speak with Hackett, Ali responded that she won’t be speaking to any media, only her attorney and her mother.
What remains unanswered
The federal lawsuit now places the dispute before a court, but several questions surrounding the traffic stop remain unresolved.
Among them is what happened in the seconds immediately before Arellano took Hackett to the ground and struck her. The narrative in the incident report from Arrellano says Hackett pulled away and refused commands during an arrest, and that the strike was to gain compliance.
Hackett’s mother says her daughter was attempting to understand why she was being arrested and was not resisting.
The lawsuit now makes substantially the same argument, alleging that Hackett was not fleeing or threatening the trooper and that the force used against her was excessive and retaliatory.
This is a developing story. JRN will provide updates as they are available.
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