Police in North Carolina allege that the woman seen in a widely circulated video getting hit by an officer was resisting arrest.
The video taken by a bystander shows several officers surrounding the woman while she is on the ground, and one cop appears to strike her multiple times. Eyewitnesses on the scene asked why she was punched and told the officers to get off of her.
“What the f**k, get off her,” one person said.
“How the hell are you going to punch a woman like that, bro?” a man dressed in all black said.
Seconds later, she was escorted into the police vehicle. The incident occurred on Monday afternoon near a Bojangles in Charlotte, and the woman was later identified as Christina Pierre, an employee at the fast food restaurant, according to WSOC-TV.
When officers approached Pierre and another person who was smoking weed, they alleged that she hit one of the officers, per the outlet citing a police report. And when they attempted to take her into custody, she was “not allowing officers to arrest her.”
The police said officers ordered Pierre to stop resisting multiple times before an officer struck her “seven times with knee strike and ten closed fist strikes to the peroneal nerve in the thigh to try to gain compliance,” the news station reported.
WSOC-TV reported that the man who was with her was also arrested and reportedly charged with possession of marijuana, carrying a concealed weapon, and resisting/obstructing and delay. Pierre has similar charges, including assault on a government official. A mugshot posted by the outlet shows bruises on her face.
The video sparked outrage online, prompting Charlotte-Mecklenburg police chief Johnny Jennings to release a statement.
“I never want to see an officer, much less one of my own, involved in a situation like this. Our officers are trained to engage and interact with people and manage situations to the best of their abilities based on the training they receive,” the statement said. “When individuals physically assault officers and refuse to comply with police and when they resist arrest, officers must physically engage with them to safely take them into custody.”
Jennings said that he wants to release the body-camera footage but has to file a petition with the court before it could be made public, per state law. Bojangles reportedly said it would cooperate with law enforcement on this case and that Pierre and the man are still employees at the restaurant.
