La’Nisha Hemingway has settled with the City of North Myrtle Beach after it violated her constitutional rights. The settlement, totaling $250,000, comes after she alleged wrongful detention by the police earlier this year.
Hemingway, a recent graduate of North Myrtle Beach High School, was stopped, handcuffed, and detained by officers Michael Pacileo and Kayla Wallace from the North Myrtle Beach Police Department on May 3 while she was en route to meet friends.
Bodycam footage from the incident reveals Wallace stating, “That’s not it” before aiming a gun at Hemingway and her vehicle. The police mistook her car for a stolen vehicle and detained her at gunpoint.
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Grateful for her life, the teen shared her experience publicly for the first time. She said, “If I was to move differently or react differently I wouldn’t be here today. This really hurts me. I’m depressed from this incident.”
“I had two guns pointed at me. Until this day I am terrified. I am in therapy now. I also have PTSD. I’m trying my best to move forward on this situation that happened to me,” she said, according to WPDE.
At a June press conference, her attorney, Tyler Bailey, summarized the events, noting that officers did not request Hemingway’s license or registration during the traffic stop and failed to ask for her name. He also claimed that a report regarding her arrest was not created until several days after the incident.
Announcing details of her settlement at a news conference last month, Hemingway tearfully shared her struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder, marking the day of the news conference as a beginning for her healing process.
She stated, “The police officers around the world are supposed to be here to protect us not cause no one harm or trauma.”
“The incident with North Myrtle Beach Police Department ruined my life. I’m not the same anymore. Every night I’m up thinking about how my life would have been taken away.”
She said that the money will remain untouched until she feels ready to use it, as she has aspirations to open her own salon one day.
For now, Hemingway said, “I want to help out with the community, being an advocate. Talking to people. People who went through this and see what have they gone through and what they’ve done to make themselves feel better. I just want to find people out there like me.”
Meanwhile, the Post and Courier reports that Pacileo and Wallace are still employed with the department. Pacileo has worked for the city since 1992, and Wallace joined the department in 2021.
