An Arizona sheriff's deputy is now under scrutiny following an incident that was caught on body-cam video, in which the officer appeared to strike a handcuffed woman twice in the face during an arrest in northern Arizona. As reported by FOX 10 Phoenix, the altercation took place on March 13, prompting an investigation by the Coconino County Sheriff's Office and Flagstaff Police Department into the use of force applied.
The deputies had been responding to a trespassing call in Doney Park and arrested three people. One of the individuals, a woman, resisted as officers attempted to place her into the patrol vehicle. The deputy then seemed to quickly react, hitting her in the face twice in an effort to regain control. Following the incident, a sergeant on the scene immediately stepped in, and the woman was taken into custody and transported to jail suffering minor injuries, as noted by The Arizona Daily Sun.
The body camera footage, which was released by the sheriff's office, has become the crux of both a criminal and administrative investigation to ascertain whether the deputy's actions were within the bounds of the agency's policies and procedures. The unnamed deputy has since been placed on administrative leave pending the results of these investigations. "CCSO will simultaneously conduct an Administrative Investigation into the Deputy’s actions to determine if they were justified under CCSO Policies and Procedures," the sheriff's office said in a statement obtained by FOX 10 Phoenix.
Meanwhile, the Flagstaff Police Department has been asked specifically to look into the criminal aspects of the case surrounding the deputy's use of force. With the inquiries underway, the community awaits determinations on whether the actions evidenced in the disturbing footage were warranted or constitute an abuse of power. The suspect, whose identity has not been disclosed, was reported to have sustained only minor injuries according to what the sheriff's office described in a statement released to The Arizona Daily Sun.
