Girl body-slammed by San Bernardino police officer speaks out
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A 17-year-old girl said she was “hurt everywhere” after a San Bernardino police officer threw her to the ground in a filmed arrest that has gone viral.
The teenager, identified only as Erin, showed wounds to her face and chin at a news conference Sunday.
“I’m just in a lot of pain,” she said in video broadcast by ABC-7. “My head, my whole body. I’m not the same person I was.”
In a video circulated widely on social media, three officers stand guard while a fourth tries to handcuff Erin, then flings her to the ground face first.
The person filming yells, “Hey!” and walks toward the girl, who is lying on the asphalt bleeding. Two officers extend their batons and yell for the person filming to back up.
Erin’s mother, Tanya Brownridge, said she wanted a straight answer from the San Bernardino Police Department about the arrest — and hasn’t gotten one.
“They gave us three different stories,” Brownridge said at the news conference. “One to me, one to my mom, one to my sister. I just want justice. That’s it.”
In an unsigned statement posted on the department’s Facebook page, San Bernardino police officials said Erin was arrested Wednesday afternoon in the 500 block of West 2nd Street.
An officer detained the teenager on suspicion of trespassing and “attempting to fight others,” the statement said.
The officer, who wasn’t identified, cuffed one of Erin’s hands before she tried to pull away, prompting him to use a “take down maneuver,” the officials said.
Erin was treated at a hospital for a cut chin and scraped face, the officials said. They added that officers use force “based on behavior, not on age, gender or race.”
Supervisors are now reviewing whether the officer’s actions were “necessary, reasonable and within policy,” the officials said.
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