Florida officer strikes 14-year-old as he tries to arrest her

[Judi Lynn]

31. A Florida officer punched a 14-year-old girl. That type of violence is not uncommon.

Viral video of the girl’s arrest is a reminder that police violence affects black women and girls too.
By P.R. Lockhart Oct 22, 2018, 3:40pm EDT

A Florida police department is defending its officers after a viral video showed an officer punching a 14-year-old black girl as she was pinned to the ground, calling attention to the ways police can violently interact with young black women.

The incident occurred last Thursday as officers with the Coral Springs Police Department responded to reports of a large group of teens creating a disturbance at the Coral Square Mall. The teens were removed and banned from the mall by police after mall security received complaints, but a smaller group of the same kids returned soon after. The officers had already arrested one of the teens and were arresting the unnamed girl when the video was recorded.

In a video posted to Instagram, the girl is shown lying on the ground as two officers, one female and one male, both kneel on top of her. As the female officer attempts to pull the girl’s arm out from under her body, the male officer strikes the girl in her side as he holds her shorts.

”Why you hitting her?” an off-camera voice yells. “She can’t do that, her hands underneath her, the f*** you hitting her for?”

More:
https://www.vox.com/identities/2018/10/22/18009620/florida-14-year-old-police-violence-black-women-girls