Two police officers in the US state of Florida have been placed on leave after brutally smashing a woman’s face to the ground and breaking her cheekbone while arresting her for driving under influence.
Christina West, 44, was captured and arrested by Tallahassee Police Department officers early in the morning of August 10 after crashing her car into a house on Kilkenny Drive, according to police reports.
A dash camera inside a TPD vehicle recorded the whole scene of cops arresting West and their use of unnecessary force against the non-aggressive woman. The video shows how West’s head was slammed against a police car before she was forcefully placed on the ground. West suffered a broken orbital bone, a black eye and a bloody nose.
The officers claim West had slipped her handcuffs and they were trying to put them back on, according to WCTV.
The video of the woman screaming in pain went viral on the Internet.
“I think you broke my right cheek,” West cries and screams.
“You’re fine,” an officer responds.
“I didn’t see anything in the video that would cause me to believe that this woman needed anybody to use any type of force or restraint on her,” State Attorney Willie Meggs told WCTV calling the video “very disturbing”.
West has had two surgeries so far as a result of her injuries.
Tallahassee Police Department spokesperson David Northway defended the arrest in a statement Tuesday.
“We stand by our practices that we have in place and we also stand by the procedures that we have in place,” Northway said.
Human rights activists have raised concerns over the increase in police brutality across the United States. Just last week, another video went viral showing a group of officers beating and tasering an unarmed man in the state of California.
By Press TV
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