A police officer in Texas can be seen in a newly emerged video apparently punching a 14-year-old girl several times in the face during an altercation at a birthday party.
The blurry footage was taken by a bystander in a parking lot outside a party venue on Saturday evening. It shows several officers among a small crowd. Someone cries: “Don’t talk to her like that … oh my God!”
One officer appears to throw several punches at a girl in a purple dress, who lurches backwards. She is then dragged away by two officers while a woman, reportedly her mother, screams in the background and is restrained. More screams and wails are audible.
The girl was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a public servant, taken to a juvenile detention centre and released on Monday. Her attorney, Artessia House, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Guardian on Wednesday. House told the San Antonio Express-News that the girl had not assaulted the officer and was an excellent student with no history of violence.
The San Antonio police department has not released the name of the officer. According to the department, it was responding to a call about men fighting at a quinceañera – a celebration traditionally held by Hispanic and Latino people to mark a girl’s 15th birthday.
“The video made public showing a scuffle between police officers and a girl is hard to watch and to listen to,” Ivy Taylor, the San Antonio mayor, said in a statement. “SAPD is now reviewing body cam video to determine exactly what happened.”
The department could not immediately be reached for comment on Wednesday afternoon; William McManus, the chief, said in a statement that the episode was under review “to ensure compliance with department policies”.
SATX4, an activist group in the city linked with the Black Lives Matter movement, called for the officer to be fired and charges to be filed against him. “Unfortunately, this is another example of police targeting black community members,” a statement by the group read.
Video surfaced in April last year of a San Antonio independent school district police officer lifting up a 12-year-old girl, body-slamming her to the ground then handcuffing her as she lay motionless, seemingly stunned. The officer lost his job.
