"Doctor denies obstructing: Protester claims brutality by police."

Ann Arbor doctor Catherine Wilkerson claims a city police officer assaulted her when she tried to examine an unconscious protester last November and that prosecutors filed charges against her after she filed a brutality complaint.

Although Wilkerson, 57, was participating in a protest, she said Tuesday she was acting as a doctor to help the unconscious man when city and University of Michigan police stopped her.

A U-M spokeswoman declined to comment.

"We don't file retaliatory charges," said Steve Hiller, deputy chief assistant prosecutor for Washtenaw County.

Wilkerson is charged with two misdemeanor counts of obstructing police and emergency medical personnel.

Charges against her came in February. She filed an assault complaint Jan. 17 with Ann Arbor police, who investigated and denied her claim.

Wilkerson was among a group protesting during a Nov. 30 speech by Ray Tanter, a former Reagan and Bush administration security adviser. Police removed several protesters.

Wilkerson's attorney, Dennis Hayes, said she identified herself as a physician when she saw Blaine Coleman lying on a floor in handcuffs and shouting that he couldn't breathe. Wilkerson asked police to roll him over so she could examine him. They refused at first but then did.

She said he was unconscious and bleeding from a cut on his head. When ambulance technicians arrived, Wilkerson said, they improperly tried to revive him by administering ammonia several times.

She told them she was a doctor and should be allowed to care for him, but police ordered her to move away. She said the Ann Arbor officer yanked her arm behind her back, aggravating an old injury.

The next hearing in the case is scheduled May 29 in 15th District Court in downtown Ann Arbor.

Contact TINA LAM at 313-222-6421 or tlam@freepress.com.

Copyright © 2007 Detroit Free Press Inc.