The Associated Press

LOUISVILLE - A Louisville woman shot by a Bullitt County deputy has filed a $1 million suit against the sheriff's department.

Jeanie Longwell, 28, was fleeing from police when the car she was driving was stopped in Bullitt County. She was a suspect in an alleged shoplifting in Elizabethtown.

She alleges in the lawsuit that Deputy Gary Wilson used unnecessary force when he shot her in the abdomen Dec. 5, 2001. The suit, filed recently in U.S. District Court, also names Deputy Wilson and Sheriff Paul Parsley as defendants. Sheriff Parsley declined comment. Deputy Wilson didn't return calls made to him at the sheriff's department.

According to police accounts, Ms. Longwell was shot after refusing to raise her hands as ordered after a chase. A large kitchen knife was later found under a seat.

Ms. Longwell contends in her lawsuit that she was unarmed, that she had surrendered to police and that Deputy Wilson shot her without provocation.