SAN ANTONIO – A weekend brawl that ended with a 14-year-old girl being hit by a San Antonio police officer was caught on not one, but two cameras.
Cellphone video of part of the incident has gone viral. It depicts a confrontation after an officer said the girl's mother charged at a bystander and then struggled with police.
That bystander apparently broke up an argument between the girl and someone else before the girl was eventually arrested.
The girl’s mother said she wants the officer to be disciplined and is planning to file a lawsuit.
In a split second, the cellphone video recorded Saturday night turns violent. An officer hit 14-year-old A’Mynae Roberts again and again until he and another officer grabbed her. Her mother, April Johnson, who is seen in the video, said she feels like she let her daughter down.
"I couldn't get to her to protect her, and that's my job as her mother. And no mother, no father, nobody, should have to see their child get hit in the face by a man,” Johnson said.
Johnson and her daughter’s lawyer said they will sue the San Antonio Police Department for using excessive force.
The mother and her children were at a quinceañera on Walzem Road just west of Loop 410 the day of the incident. The party ended in a series of fights.
Roberts was arrested and charged with assaulting a public servant. Johnson said her daughter never hit the officer.
The video does not show what happened before.
“Let’s say this officer was hit by a 14-year-old child, you weren't there alone,” said Artessia “Tess” House, the family’s attorney. "The force that you could see in that videotape looked as if was MMA style, force appropriate for an adult.”
In a statement, San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said the events leading up to the arrest are “being investigated to ensure compliance with Department policies."
Roberts is out of juvenile detention and was given a curfew. She does not have a criminal court date yet.
As for a civil case, beyond excessive force, her lawyer said she will argue the other officers are to blame as well for not stepping in. House said the first steps of a lawsuit will probably be filed within the next week or two.
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