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Police officer accused of giving prisoners rough ride in van

A St. Louis police officer is accused of driving a van too roughly to punish two prisoners, court documents claim.

ST. LOUIS — A St. Louis police officer was accused of punishing two prisoners by giving them a rough ride in a van, jamming on the brakes and causing them to suffer injuries, the Post-Dispatch reported.

Officer Lori Wozniak, 47, was charged with two misdemeanor counts of fourth-degree assault stemming from the Aug. 2 incident, the newspaper reported. The assault charges came after the prisoners, aged 21 and 19, “said rude things to each other” about Wozniak, according to the complaint that was filed in St. Louis Circuit Court.

The men had been arrested for allegedly breaking glass on the marquee of a church, the Post-Dispatch reported. Wozniak was assigned to transport the men in a police van.

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According to charging documents, Wozniak told her sergeant about the men’s alleged comments and said she wanted to “make them walk home.”

“She also said she was going to stop hard at every stop sign between the scene and the station,” according to the the assault charges.

The charging documents also said Wozniak "jammed on the brakes of the cruiser, causing both victims to slide forward on the metal benches of the cruiser," the Post-Dispatch reported.

One prisoner suffered a cut above his eye, the newspaper reported.