Cellphone Video: Colo. officer hits female student

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- The Colorado Springs Police Department has launched an investigation after a cellphone video shows a police officer allegedly hitting a female student, CBS Denver reported last week.

While trying to break up a fight between two students at Coronado High School, the video shows the school resource officer hitting a female student. He said that the student had hit him first, according to the station.

Department officials had initially said that the force used was "necessary and appropriate," reports CBS Denver. However, he will have to write a report explaining why he used force and his supervisor will decide whether the officer was in the wrong.

"At this point in time, it's far too early to say he's justified in that use of force," a police spokesperson told the Colorado Springs Gazette Friday.

The officer reportedly went back to work the next day and the district spokesperson said that many people have called in, supporting the officer's actions.

The police have not officially released the names of those involved. A witness told the newspaper that the two girls in the video had a history of arguing with one another and that they wanted to fight one another.

No one was injured in the fight. Both girls were arrested on suspicion of fighting, but they were not cited for attacking the police officer, according to the Gazette.

The district spokesperson, citing privacy concerns, declined to comment on the students' punishments. However, both girls reportedly received three-day suspensions, according to the paper.