Stella Parton, the singing sister of country music icon Dolly Parton, is coming forward with a story of excessive force she claims was used on her by Metro Nashville police.
The incident happened in 2015, but she is speaking out about it now because of the national spotlight on the use of force by police on citizens in the news lately.
She is referencing an incident that happened at her Oak Hills home in 2015. There had been 2 recent break-ins and she had a legal firearm and a carry permit. She thought there was an intruder when saw someone with a flashlight outside her window. She accidentally set off the panic alarm.
According to an interview with News4, her account went like this:
“I pointed and I said there is a gun there – I have a license to carry it because I’ve had two break-ins already,” Parton said.
“Did you do anything to threaten these officers?” asked News4 Investigates.
“Oh, heavens no,” Parton said.
“Did you do anything with the gun to threaten that you were going for it?” asked News4.
“No. I pointed at it,” Parton said.
Police say it did NOT go down like that. The report says she was warned to stay away from the gun when they arrived. But she replied, “You can’t tell me what to do”.
When she wouldn't comply, officers reported they used "soft restraint", but Stella Parton says it was chokehold.
She told News4, “I was saying to myself, ‘Please God, don’t let them injure me or kill me. Because my kids will never know what happened to me,’” Parton said. “I said boys, don’t do this to me. And he said, we’re not boys! I said, 'O, honey,' and he said, 'I’ve been to Iraq.'”
She filed a complaint with the district attorney's office and with the cops about the use of excessive force. An internal investigation exonerated the officers.