Why Are Police Becoming More Aggressive (Cop Punches Mentally Ill Girl in Face
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PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. -
Surveillance video obtained by Local 10 shows a police officer punch a 14-year-old girl in the face during an arrest at a psychiatric center for adolescents.
The video (posted above) shows the girl walking down the hallway of the Citrus Center for Adolescent Treatment Services among a group of nurses and police officers on April 28.
When one of the officers grabs the girl's arm in an attempt to place it behind her back, she turns around and swings at him. He then punches her in the face.
The punch knocks the girl to the ground, and the angle of the camera only shows several officers on the floor and one throwing another punch. Another sprays her with pepper spray as she is on the ground.
"When an officer uses that type of force against a mentally ill child, there is no other conclusion than that officer is using excessive force," said Broward County Chief Assistant Public Defender Howard Weekes.
In a letter to interim DCF Secretary Esther Jacobo and Pembroke Pines Police Chief Dan Giustino, Weekes wrote that the girl in the video was charged with resisting arrest with violence, disorderly conduct, and criminal mischief.
According to the Pembroke Pines Police Department, the call came in as 30 residents beating six or seven staff members. Department officials said the girl was inciting others to fight with police, and that the officer's actions appeared to be consistent with his report
as well as department policy and training regarding use of force.
No complaint was made over the incident until Weekes' letter was received, according to spokespersons for the Pembroke Pines Police Department and the Department of Children and Families.
"DCF takes all allegations of abuse very seriously and has launched an investigation to determine if abuse has occurred," DCF Communications Director Paige Patterson-Hughes said in a statement.
Letter alleges problems at facility
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