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Woman withdraws intent to file suit against city of Cape Coral

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A woman who had alleged she was injured by a Cape Coral police officer while in custody in 2008 has apparently withdrawn her intent to sue the city.

Brittany Lynn Sposito and her attorney, Jon Herskowitz, notified the city in February 2011 of their intent to file the lawsuit after providing the city with the required six-month time period for it investigate and evaluate the claim.

They intended to sue for negligence or a violation of her civil rights.

Last month, Herskowitz reported that he was no longer representing Sposito, as of the end of 2011. He never filed the suit as her attorney.

“I just no longer represent her now,” he said, adding that he could not comment further on the case nor why he is no longer representing her.

Herskowitz did not know if Sposito had acquired a new attorney.

According to city spokeswoman Connie Barron, the case is closed.

“This complaint was withdrawn,” she reported via e-mail, adding that it was withdrawn “after a complete review of the evidence found that there was no basis for the claim.”

Barron did not know if Sposito had acquired new representation.

“We are not aware of any new attorney, nor have we been noticed of any future potential legal action,” she wrote.

Several attempts to reach Sposito for comment were unsuccessful.

On May 20, 2008, Officer Georgeann Lytle was trying to transfer Sposito, who was 18 at the time, from one holding cell to another following a DUI arrest when the teen reportedly struck Lytle in the throat with her elbow.

“As this time, I put her in an arm bar, using the booking room exit door as counter pressure, where I kept her positioned until she could be secured in handcuffs,” Lytle wrote in a report to police supervisors one month later.

Sposito reportedly sustained a bruise on the side of her face.

In a June 2008 review of the incident, police supervisors found that “the level of force used was within policy” and “Lytle’s actions were objectively reasonable in light of the facts and circumstances confronting her” then.

The only issue police supervisors had was that a use of force form had not been completed at the time of arrest when the injury is alleged to have occurred.

Lytle has been with the Cape Police Department since June 2001.