Felipe Fernandez-Armesto said he was the victim of "terrible, terrible violence" after he crossed the road in the wrong place in Atlanta, Georgia, last week.
The 56-year-old academic failed to realise that a man telling him to stop crossing was a police officer and he argued with him.
Kevin Leonpacher kicked the professor's legs from under him when he hesitated in showing his ID. The officer called for back-up and Professor Fernandez-Armesto was handcuffed to another suspect in a "filthy, foetid paddy wagon".
Traumatised, disorientated and with a gash to the head, he was taken to jail and charged with pedestrian failure to obey a police officer and physical obstruction of police.