PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Khasandra Franklin said she lives with anxiety and flashbacks since the night of Sept. 17, 2020.
The 25-year-old Mount Airy woman got into a road rage incident with a motorcyclist, who turned out to be Assistant District Attorney Anthony Voci. She said the situation escalated and culminated with her arrest.
Franklin has filed a lawsuit against Voci and nine officers in the Philadelphia Police Department, including a deputy commissioner, claiming they abused their power to falsely arrest and jail her.
Voci did not respond to a request for comment.
The lawsuit, filed in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, lists Voci, Deputy Police Commissioner Benjamin Naish, two police detectives, an unidentified sergeant and five police officers. The suit seeks damages for intentional inflection of emotional distress, false imprisonment, assault and battery, and civil conspiracy.
“Even to this day, I’m paranoid everywhere I go,” said Franklin.
On that night, she was driving with a friend on Kelly Drive when she merged in front of Voci. According to the allegations in the complaint, Voci pulled his motorcycle close to her car and shouted, “You Black (expletive)! What the (expletive) are you doing? You don’t know how to drive! You’re trying to run me off the road!”
Franklin admits they responded to him with expletives as well — and that’s when she said the situation got worse.
Franklin said Voci, who is white, followed them to a traffic light. The complaint alleges Voci pulled in front of her car and blocked it from moving, then identified himself as an officer. Franklin said he was dressed in plain clothing, so she drove away.
“I was scared,” she remembered.
Part of the complaint continues, “Voci then called 911, identified himself as the Chief of the Homicide Unit in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s, gave a physical description of Ms. Franklin, a description of her car, her license tag and falsely reported that Ms. Franklin ‘tried to (expletive) kill me!’ ”
Franklin said police came to her apartment. Eventually, she was arrested, taken to the police district, booked, and locked up for 24 hours. She was charged with aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and other crimes.
“I was told I was being arrested for a homicide,” she said. “I was crying, and the whole time I was in the cell. I was shaking.”
Franklin was originally represented by the Defender Association of Philadelphia. Chief Keir Bradford-Grey pushed to get the charges dropped. In February, the Pennsylvania attorney general dismissed the charges.
“There should never have been an arrest in this case,” said Lynn Nichols, Franklin’s attorney.
Although Voci was removed from his position as head of the homicide unit and now works in insurance fraud, Nichols said that is not enough.
“They had five or six police officers there to arrest her and this is all at the hands of Anthony Voci,” she said.
KYW Newsradio reached out to the Philadelphia Police Department, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office, the City of Philadelphia and the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5. They all declined to comment.
Franklin’s car was also towed as a result of the incident. She lost her job, and her license was restricted. Nichols said none of the law enforcement officials involved in the incident suffered the way Franklin did.
“We want to set a precedent for accountability when they use their power to abuse the process,” Nichols added.
Franklin vows to follow through with the case, even if she’s afraid.
“I’m grateful that they dropped the charges,” she said, “but I’m terrified now … and he needs to be held accountable for what he did to me.”