California Officer Caught On Tape Punching Woman in Head
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iStock/Thinkstock(LOS ANGELES) — A California Highway Patrol officer is on administrative leave after a driver captured video showing him punching a woman in the head as she lay on the ground along a Los Angeles Freeway.
The Tuesday incident on Interstate 10 was seen by driver David Diaz, who started recording on his cellphone.
“He starts really like letting loose…cause he just starts pounding down on her face really hard and he doesn’t try to grab her arm,” Diaz said. “He doesn’t do anything first and he’s really pounding her head in.”
There were no weapons on the scene, according to Diaz.
“The most animalistic, the most brutal, most way to subdue someone is to pound their face in to concrete with really big blows to the head,” he added.
The CHP said the officer was arresting the woman, who was said to be acting erratically and walking up and down the freeway ramp. Officials claim the officer ordered the woman to stop, but she ignored him, fearing she would be hurt, and a physical altercation ensued as she resisted arrest.
She was not injured, according to a statement from the CHP.
The law enforcemt agency says it is investigating the incident. Community activists are demanding a federal rights probe, along with answers.
“I would encourage them to give us time to thoroughly evaluate the situation,” CHP Assistant Chief Chris O’Quinn said. “Our department strives for transparency in everything that it does.”
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