More info from my local paper. Apparently she's planning a lawsuit.
Singer plans to sue Lee sheriff's office over injuries
Mindy McCready charged with battery
By Mark S. Krzos
mkrzos@news-press.com
Originally posted on July 23, 2007
After a tussle this weekend with the Lee County Sheriff’s office, country music singer Mindy McCready confirmed Monday that she plans to strike back — with a lawsuit — over injuries she sustained.
The arrest was made at McCready's North Fort Myers home. The performer said Lee County sheriff’s deputies used excessive force during the arrest as she held her baby after arguing with her mother.
Lee County Sheriff’s Office reports say the country singer, who had a rising career until having several personal problems, was causing a disturbance and resisting arrest.
According to the arrest report:
Deputy Jennifer Torres responded to a domestic dispute at 5862 Sandburg Drive in North Fort Myers. When Torres arrived, McCready’s mother, Gail Inge, told Torres that McCready had been drinking and attacked her. Torres, who noticed scratch marks on Inge’s right cheek, confirmed Inge’s account with Michael Inge.
McCready, however, maintained that Inge’s marks were self-inflicted, denied attacking her mother and then became verbally abusive toward Torres. At this point, Torres placed McCready under arrest for domestic battery, but McCready resisted, forcing Torres to take McCready to the ground. During the scuffle, McCready sustained a minor cut to her nose.
On Sunday, after posting $1,000 bond, McCready told news-press.com that her nose was broken and that her body was bruised from the way deputies handled her.
This time, McCready says she plans on hitting back — with a lawsuit.
“I can’t make any comment because there is legal action pending,” said McCready, who is now back at her mother’s home in North Fort Myers. “My son, he’s with me right now. My mother? She’s here too and she’s fine. I’m the only one who was injured.”
McCready refused to discuss the incident, but insisted that a family disagreement was taken out of context and that the sheriff’s office overreacted.
Corrections Capt. Tom Eberhardt said today he could not say much about McCready’s time in the Lee County Jail.
“We have more than 100 inmates a night, so you really can’t say what one person was doing,” he said. “There was one incident where she was being uncooperative and they had to use the pepper-spray on her.”
McCready, who hasn’t had a hit since her debut album, “Ten Thousand Angels” in 1996, has remained in the news after a series of run-ins with boyfriends, drugs, alcohol and law enforcement.
This weekend’s arrest comes on the heels of a rough few years for McCready, who told a national audience on “Oprah” in November 2005 that she was getting her life back in order.
“When I saw her on Oprah, she looked like she was being sincere,” said Dave Logan, a disc jockey for Cat Country 107.1 FM. “Poor Mindy. She obviously has not overcome her demons. She’s such an incredible talent. It’s such a shame.”
Deputies first received a call from McCready’s mother, Melody Inge, shortly before 1 a.m., about her daughter being intoxicated and causing a disturbance, the sheriff’s report says. Inge wasn’t available for comment.
McCready said the family had been playing Scrabble at their home at 5862 Sandburg Drive. That’s when a family issue they were discussing got out of hand.
The singer said that she told authorities they weren’t needed. McCready said that deputies escalated what was only a family argument by taking it out of context.
“I was holding my baby at the time,” McCready said of Zander McCready, 15 months. “They tackled me. They didn’t give any directions. They just tackled. There was no reason for it. To take down a woman holding a baby, it’s just not right.”
A deputy took Zander from McCready as she was tackled, so he was not injured, she said.
King said that when deputies arrived, McCready was out of control and wouldn’t let them handcuff her. Then, a female deputy fought McCready to the ground and handcuffed her, King said.
McCready said they broke her nose, and that she has bruises all over her body from the way they handled her.
The singer was booked into the Lee County Jail at 2:28 a.m. Saturday, police records show.
During the booking, McCready again caused a disturbance and wouldn’t settle down at a deputy’s request, King said. She then refused to be handcuffed again.
That’s when deputies sprayed her with a substance similar to pepper spray.
McCready said they told her they weren’t arresting her and they wouldn’t answer when she asked why they were taking all her personal belongings.
By 7:05 p.m. Saturday, McCready had posted $1,000 bail and was released.
A decade ago, the Fort Myers native was a rising star on the Nashville country music scene. McCready’s first album, 1996’s “Ten Thousand Angels,” produced four hits and sold 2 million copies. She appeared in magazines and was once engaged to actor Dean Cain, who played Superman opposite Teri Hatcher in the TV show “Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.”
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