A mother who was arrested for posting photos of a Texas city's disgusting brown water has sued police for violating her First Amendment rights. 

Jennifer Combs, an independent journalist, filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Trinidad, Police Chief Charles Gregory, Officer Cameron Beckham, and City Councilwoman Marie Bannister for violating her constitutional rights. 

The lawsuit stemmed from an April Facebook post Combs put out that showed questionably colored water in a bathtub inside Trinidad's city limits. Trinidad is located roughly 70 miles outside of Dallas. 

'We are receiving reports of possible water quality issues, including concerns about bacteria and unsafe conditions,' she wrote. 

'If your water is discolored, has sediment, odor, or if you or your family have experienced illness you believe may be related, please reach out.' 

A few days later, the Trinidad Police Department responded on Facebook with their own post, writing that it had 'not received any confirmed reports from hospitals, medical providers, or any official health agency indicating that citizens have been hospitalized due to bacteria in the water system.' 

It also reminded the public that under Texas law, sending a false alarm or report is illegal. 

Two weeks after Combs' post, the city issued a boil water advisory. 

A few weeks after that, Combs was arrested for sending a false alarm by the Trinidad Police Department. On Thursday, a grand jury declined to indict Combs on the charge, but prosecutors could still pursue it. 

The grandmother is now suing the police and the city for 'manufacturing criminal charges' against her.  

'The charges against Mrs. Combs are not the product of legitimate law enforcement. They are the product of political retaliation,' the lawsuit, viewed by the Daily Mail, read. 

Combs accused the lawsuit's defendants of creating a coordinated attack against her to hide the city's water troubles. 

She specifically accused Bannister of having a personal motive to hide the disgusting water as she has 'family ties to the city’s water infrastructure,' which gives her a 'powerful motive to suppress exactly the kind of reporting Mrs. Combs engaged in,' the lawsuit said. 

Combs maintained that she received 'credible reports from members of the community,' including from one who had been 'hospitalized as a result of consuming the water,' the lawsuit said. 

'Mrs. Combs did not fabricate an emergency,' court documents said. 

'She did not summon emergency responders. She did not trigger evacuations. She reported – accurately and in good faith – what community members had told her about the safety of their water, performing the most basic and constitutionally valued function of a journalist: informing the public about matters of genuine public safety concern.' 

Her lawyers argued that charging her with a false alarm was unlawful, as the law typically pertains to falsely reporting a fire or explosion. 

'It has no application whatsoever to the act of a journalist sharing community safety information with the public through social media,' the lawsuit read. 

Combs is demanding a jury trial and to be compensated for the damages against her, including reputational harm and anxiety induced by the aftermath of her arrest. 

A spokesperson for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality confirmed to the Daily Mail that the organization had received a water quality inquiry. 

'An investigation is ongoing,' the spokesperson told the Daily Mail. 

Combs has started a GoFundMe to help afford her defense team, and for expert witnesses, her lawyer, CJ Grisham, wrote on Facebook. 

'We are a small, but determined firm!' he wrote.  

Combs told Fox 4 News that the experience has been 'one of the most humiliating things I've ever gone through in my entire life.' 

'It was very, very bad,' she said. 'I feel like this is an extreme stretch.' 

Combs stands by her reporting, saying: 'There’s people that are saying that their appliances are getting ruined, they can’t cook with the water, they can’t bathe with it, they can’t do laundry. 

'A lot of them feel hushed, and like they don’t have a voice and no one listens to them and no one takes them seriously.' 

Her lawyer told the Daily Mail: 'Mrs. Combs will not be intimidated into silence, and neither will the community she serves. The residents of Navarro and Henderson Counties deserve answers about the quality of their water — not the arrest of the messenger who dared to ask the questions on their behalf.' 

The Daily Mail has reached out to the Trinidad Police Department and Bannister for comment.