Philadelphia police investigate after video shows officer pummeling teen girl

PHILADELPHIA - An officer has been taken off duty pending an investigation into two videos posted on social media that depict her fighting a teenage girl while breaking up a brawl on the city’s southwest side, reports CBS Philly.

Officers were dispatched to the intersection of 54th Street and Springfield Avenue just before 4 p.m. Monday after two families reportedly gathered at the location to fight.

*Warning: This video contains offensive language and violent images

Witnesses began recording as police arrived on the scene and attempted to get the brawling families to disperse.

The videos show one unidentified officer grabbing a 16-year-old girl and pushing her away. The two then get into another confrontation, which ended with the officer throwing the girl to the ground and repeatedly throwing punches while on top of her.

The Philadelphia Police Department’s Internal Affairs Unit is investigating, but Commissioner Richard Ross says what people missed was the teen girl slapping the officer before the video began.

“That was not shown, but she admitted that she did that,” Ross said. “The officer admitted that she threw her to the ground and she jumped on top of her, and that she struck her several times. And the female said that she also struck the officer while she was on the ground as well.”

In a news release, police said that the 16-year-old was interviewed in the presence of her guardian and informed investigators that she attempted to interfere with officers as they were attempting to arrest one of the individual engaged in the fights.

The teen allegedly admits to striking the officer and knocking the glasses off her face. A struggle then ensued where the teen was grabbed by her hair and taken to the ground and both the officer and the teen exchanged punches.

The officer reportedly sustained bruising to her right eye and cheek along with abrasions to the right knee, but chose not to go to the hospital.

The teen was transported to the hospital because of complaint of pain to her neck. She is being charged with assault on police, disorderly conduct and related charges.

The officer has been pulled from the streets upon an internal affairs investigation.