Police Pepper-Spray, Arrest 15 Year Old Girl For Refusing To Go To Hospital After Bike Crash

The Hagerstown Police Department is taking heat on Facebook after a video surfaced earlier this week that shows what appears to be a handcuffed girl being pepper sprayed in the back of a police cruiser.

Police have said they were justified in arresting and pepper-spraying a 15-year-old girl who didn't want to go to hospital after she was hit by a car.
The mixed-race girl, who has not been identified, refused medical treatment and tried to cycle away on her bike after the bump in Hagerstown, Maryland.footage from bodycams shows two burly, white police slamming her against a wall and forcing her into handcuffs despite her screams.

 

Her lawyer Robin Ficker posted on Facebook:

"This little girl, 5 ft. 105 lbs, was brutalized by Hagerstown police after, she, on her bike, was hit by a car, but refused medical treatment.They slammed her against a wall, arrested her for refusing treatment, maced her 4 times in the police car while handcuffed, and took her to the police station instead of the hospital!"

She resisted when officers tried to put her in the back of a cruiser.

The video, which had been shared on Facebook nearly 23,000 times as of Wednesday afternoon, shows the girl kicking at the rear right door of the police car, while it appears her hands are cuffed behind her.

An officer can be heard saying, "put your feet in the car, OK, or you're going to get sprayed."When the girl wouldn't move her leg to get inside a police car, she was pepper-sprayed.
A bystander who questioned the tactics of police is told by an officer ..

"What happens ... when she's like, 'I'm fine,' right, and has a brain injury or something like that, and then she could die later?.. All we want to do is make sure she's OK." At one point she can be heard shouting "I can't breathe"

She was taken to a police station and later charged as a juvenile with assault, disorderly conduct, a traffic violation and marijuana possession.