A decorated Army veteran says three Idaho National Guard troops crossed onto her front patio in Washington, D.C., wrestled her to the concrete and left her with injuries that required surgery. Anna King, who served in Iraq, is now seeking $3 million from the federal government over the May confrontation.
The American Civil Liberties Union of D.C. filed an administrative complaint on King's behalf Wednesday, according to City Cast DC. The complaint says the Guardsmen entered through her gate, announced that she was being detained without explaining why and used force after she tried to reach her apartment; it also says excessively tight plastic handcuffs caused circulation problems and ruptured wrist ligaments.
DC News Now identified King as a Purple Heart recipient and reported that she had filed a claim with the ACLU. The filing comes nearly three months after the May 8 incident, giving the dispute a new legal life while National Guard troops continue patrolling the capital.
Video reviewed by Task & Purpose shows King telling the Guardsmen they had no authority to detain her before two of them forced her down and handcuffed her. The outlet reported that King served in the Army from 2005 to 2009, leaving as a captain with a Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Iraq Campaign Medal and Combat Action Badge.
What Happened Before The Handcuffing
The D.C. Joint Task Force told City Cast DC that the troops recognized King as a suspect in an earlier assault involving National Guard members, detained her and called the Metropolitan Police Department to make the official arrest. King faces two misdemeanor counts of assaulting a law enforcement officer and has pleaded not guilty.
Court records accuse King of punching one Guardsman and kicking another in the groin, while the complaint says the video shows her resisting the takedown but does not appear to show her punching anyone. The complaint also says she suffered bruised ribs, a cut chin, a swollen ankle, lingering hand numbness and a resurgence of post-traumatic stress symptoms after the encounter.
The ACLU Claim Could Become A Broader Test
King's filing is an administrative claim under the Federal Tort Claims Act, not a court judgment, and the federal government has six months to respond before she decides whether to pursue litigation. The case also lands amid a broader legal fight over the deployment: the ACLU of D.C. has argued that using military personnel for civilian policing weakens local accountability and constitutional safeguards.
For now, two sharply different accounts are moving forward at once: the government says troops detained a person they believed was tied to an earlier assault, while King and her attorneys say armed Guardsmen entered her home area without a warrant and escalated a confrontation that left a combat veteran injured. The next major marker will be the government's response to the claim.
