By Brett Gillin
The calls for justice were swift and loud. Video surfaced on social media sites showing a police officer striking what turned out to be a teenaged girl. The person who shot the video and many of the first commenters on said video claim that the video clearly showed the officer repeatedly striking the teenaged girl in the face with wild punches. The problem is, as it turns out, that was not true, and the full story has now come to light.
A female officer with the Harris County Precinct 4 department was responding to a call reporting a violent fight. According to this article in Click2Houston, as soon as the female officer showed up, the teenaged suspect was aggressive toward the officer right away. As the officer began trying to question the teen girl about the fight, the suspect continued her aggression toward the officer. Moments later, as the officer tried to put the juvenile into custody, she began pushing the officer.
“There was a shoving match and the deputy called for backup,” Assistant Chief Henry Wieghat told reporters.
When backup arrived, the teenaged suspect was on top of the deputy, choking her near the point of unconsciousness according to the police reports. The second officer ran to assist the officer who was being assaulted and decided to use “pain compliance” in order to save the injured officer.
It was about this time that a bystander began shooting the video that raised so much ire on social media. The second officer began hitting the suspect on the arms in order to force her to remove her hands from the other officer’s throat. Review of the body cam and dash cam videos from the police department confirmed this important detail.
“At no point did the deputy ever strike the juvenile in the face,” Wieghat explained to reporters. He also went on to describe the extent of the injuries the first officer suffered in the altercation. Weighat explained that along with being choked, the first officer was also overpowered with blows to the head and a significant bite from the juvenile suspect.
The officer’s injuries were so severe that she is still suffering from migraines more than a week after the altercation and has yet to be able to rejoin the force while the bite heals.
The juvenile has now also been charged with assault on a peace officer.
