WATCH VIDEO: Florida police punch 'unruly' 14-year-old girl pinned to ground | US Today News
- 5 years ago
Coral Springs police are under fire after a video went viral of officers punching a 14-year-old girl who was restrained and pinned to the ground.
The video, posted on social media Friday, shows an officer punching the teenager, who is face-down on the grass in front of Coral Square Mall.
“Why are you hitting her?” a girl screams in the video. “She can’t do it. She can’t do that. Her hands underneath her.”
The Coral Springs Police Department, however, claim the video “shows only the end of the story” and that officers were responding to a call about “unruly teens who had been harassing patrons and causing a disturbance.” An officer was stopped by a mother who said her 5-year-old child had been shoved to the ground by one of the teenagers and mall security has one of the female teenagers “was seen striking another teen patron,” according to police.
The unidentified girl in the video “began cursing, attempting to incite the other teens,” the Coral Springs PD said in a statement.
"Officers attempted to take her into custody, at which time she began to fight and resist arrest. Due to her stature and aggressive behavior, officers took her to the ground attempting to get her to release her fists,” the statement reads. “As seen in the video she resisted arrest, and in order to have her to comply she was struck in the side to release her clenched fists – she was then handcuffed. After she was handcuffed, and officers attempted to place her in the patrol car, she violently kicked one of the officers."
But the girl’s mother denied that her daughter was aggressive towards officers at all.
“I’m angry. I would never expect this to happen,” Jessica Dennis, told 7News Miami. “She clearly wasn’t aggressive. Everyone could see she was laying there, so I just want justice to be served.”
The girl’s lawyer also called it “excessive force” and said there was “no reason for him to hit her.”
A Change.org petition calling for an investigation into the “brutal use of force enacted towards this child who also happens to be a child who is African American” has already garnered almost 3,000 signatures as of Sunday evening.
The girl is facing charges of battery on an officer, trespassing and resisting arrest., according to NBC 6.
The video, posted on social media Friday, shows an officer punching the teenager, who is face-down on the grass in front of Coral Square Mall.
“Why are you hitting her?” a girl screams in the video. “She can’t do it. She can’t do that. Her hands underneath her.”
The Coral Springs Police Department, however, claim the video “shows only the end of the story” and that officers were responding to a call about “unruly teens who had been harassing patrons and causing a disturbance.” An officer was stopped by a mother who said her 5-year-old child had been shoved to the ground by one of the teenagers and mall security has one of the female teenagers “was seen striking another teen patron,” according to police.
The unidentified girl in the video “began cursing, attempting to incite the other teens,” the Coral Springs PD said in a statement.
"Officers attempted to take her into custody, at which time she began to fight and resist arrest. Due to her stature and aggressive behavior, officers took her to the ground attempting to get her to release her fists,” the statement reads. “As seen in the video she resisted arrest, and in order to have her to comply she was struck in the side to release her clenched fists – she was then handcuffed. After she was handcuffed, and officers attempted to place her in the patrol car, she violently kicked one of the officers."
But the girl’s mother denied that her daughter was aggressive towards officers at all.
“I’m angry. I would never expect this to happen,” Jessica Dennis, told 7News Miami. “She clearly wasn’t aggressive. Everyone could see she was laying there, so I just want justice to be served.”
The girl’s lawyer also called it “excessive force” and said there was “no reason for him to hit her.”
A Change.org petition calling for an investigation into the “brutal use of force enacted towards this child who also happens to be a child who is African American” has already garnered almost 3,000 signatures as of Sunday evening.
The girl is facing charges of battery on an officer, trespassing and resisting arrest., according to NBC 6.