A 54-year-old woman charged with assaulting a Howard County police officer says the officer used excessive force during an altercation in which he wound up punching her in the face and knocking her unconscious,

In an interview Tuesday, Rita Christine Anderson acknowledged arguing with the officer and grabbing his arm, but she denied hitting him, as accused.

Anderson said she was intoxicated the night of the incident and that she argued with the officer. But she said she did not strike the officer.

"What 54-year-old woman is going to actually beat a guy up when they have a gun?" she said.

"To hit me with a closed fist, that is uncalled for, that's like domestic abuse," Anderson said. "I feel like I was violated as a woman to be punched like that."

On the evening of July 7, according to charging documents, Anderson, of the 5900 block of Grand Banks Road in Columbia, had been kicked out of her mother's home, located in the Fall River townhouse complex in Harper's Choice. When Anderson refused to leave the area, her 82-year-old mother called police.

Two officers responded and observed Anderson "stumbling and slurring her words," according to charging documents, and Anderson's brother-in-law told police she was "highly intoxicated."

Anderson left the residence when police arrived. The charging documents state that as the two officers began walking to their patrol cars to leave, Anderson yelled an obscenity and said, "Take me to jail."

One officer, identified by police as Pfc. Dale Kreller, told Anderson to "stop screaming, to pull herself together and act like an adult." Charging documents state that Anderson responded by slapping Kreller on his left arm and again demanding the officers take her to jail.

Kreller warned Anderson not to touch him and to leave the area, but Anderson hit the officer again, according to charging documents, this time in the chin with a closed fist.

Kreller "utilized a closed fist strike with his right hand to the left side of Anderson's face," after which "Anderson immediately went unconscious and fell to the ground," charging documents state.

Anderson was handcuffed and taken to Howard County General Hospital.

At the hospital, Anderson said she was treated for wounds on her face, arm, scalp and buttocks that resulted from the punch and her subsequent fall.

She was charged shortly after midnight on July 8 with second-degree assault on an officer, which could carry up to a 10-year sentence, as well as second-degree assault and disorderly conduct.

Police said that they have not received a formal complaint about the incident. Spokeswoman Sherry Llewellyn said the department has investigated the incident and determined that Kreller acted appropriately.

"He struck her in order to defend himself," Llewellyn explained. "There is no indication that this was anything other than an appropriate use of force because the officer was being actively assaulted."