Game dev suffers broken teeth, skull fracture after trying to film arrest

Enlarge / Patricia Pizer posted images of visible injuries after being released on bail from a Rock Hill, South Carolina, prison. Pizer and her husband allege that there was "no excuse" for the level of force used in her arrest at a QuikTrip gas station on Wednesday. (credit: Patricia Pizer)

A longtime video game developer was arrested at a South Carolina gas station on Wednesday afternoon after suffering significant injuries as the result of a tackle by a police officer. The arrest followed the woman's attempt to film officers arresting fellow shoppers at a QuikTrip store in Rock Hill. Soon afterward, both sides of the arrest told vastly different stories of what exactly happened.

Former Disney, Turbine, and Ubisoft developer Patricia Pizer posted images from her hospital stay on Thursday morning on her Facebook page. A text post attached to the images, apparently written by Pizer's husband, included the following list of injuries that she sustained following her altercation with police: "Broken teeth (five that we know of), dislocated shoulder, several lacerations, bruised hip, fracture of the skull, concussion."

The news of Pizer's arrest and injuries quickly spread throughout the game development community, with industry peers such as Brenda Romero (Wizardry) and Robin Hunicke (Journey) sharing Pizer's text and video updates (along with a link to a GoFundMe fundraiser to cover her medical bills). Pizer's game-industry credits include creative director for Asheron's Call 2, senior designer for Disney's Club Penguin series, and senior design analyst for MMOs such as The Matrix Online and Uru: Ages Beyond Myst.

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