In a civil rights lawsuit unfolding in U.S. District Court, Wendy and John Kozma of Novi are suing the retail giant and Livonia police, alleging they used excessive force on their daughter and scarred her emotionally. Jodi grew up learning to trust the cops, her mother said. Now, she’s terrified of them.
“If she were ever lost or stranded, we always taught her to turn and look for police. All of that has been completely destroyed,” Wendy Kozma said in an interview with the Free Press. “I know that this has traumatized her. I want it to go away.”
What happened
It has been nearly two years since Jodi was arrested at the Livonia Wal-Mart, but her parents still are reeling. They want an apology from Wal-Mart and Livonia police, who, records show, dispatched four officers to the scene that day “in a SWAT-like approach, parking the cruisers on the sidewalk directly in front of the store doors.”