Global Courant
VICTORVILLE, California — A viral video shows a Southern California sheriff’s deputy knocking a teenage girl to the ground during a fight outside a high school football game on Friday night. According to her mother, the 16-year-old was sent to the hospital forcibly hitting her head and spine.
The altercation led to a protest Sunday at the San Bernardino County sheriff’s substation in Victorville, about 65 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles.
The video, recorded on a bystander’s cell phone, shows the 16-year-old girl first struggling with a San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputy. Another approaches her from behind and grabs her around the torso. That deputy lifts her off the ground and throws her backwards onto the sidewalk. The footage shows the teen’s head and back hitting the ground hard as her legs fly into the air.
The department’s press release stated that the deputy “pulled the female away causing her to land on the ground.”
The sheriff’s department provided few details about the brawl outside the game. The news release stated that deputies responded shortly before 6:30 p.m. and found “multiple parties” fighting.
The department claims the teen grabbed another deputy’s pepper ball launcher before the altercation. That deputy had sprayed pepper balls into the crowd to try to disperse the people, “but the attempt was ineffective and the parties began moving toward the deputy,” the agency said in the news release.
The girl’s mother said the teen was hospitalized with traumatic injuries to her head and spine.
“He attacked my daughter from behind,” Priscilla Jeffers told KCAL. “She is 16 years old. He was a grown man and he attacked my daughter. Now my daughter is scarred, now she’s confused, and I don’t know how long this will keep her confused.”
The deputy’s actions — which is the agency’s policy on any use of force — are under investigation and his name has not been made public. The department said no deputies have been suspended or disciplined.
Priscilla Jeffers did not immediately respond to The Associated Press’ request for comment on Monday.
The San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office said Monday it was aware of the incident but was not involved in a use-of-force investigation.
A 16-year-old boy was taken into custody after allegedly punching a deputy in the face during the altercation, police said. While the agency said he was committed to a juvenile facility, the teen’s mother said she initially couldn’t find him.
“He attacked my son first,” Kelani Lynch, the boy’s mother, told KTLA. “He was wrong and used aggressive force against a 16-year-old.”
Lynch also did not immediately return the AP’s request for comment.
Carl Coles, superintendent of the Victor Valley Union High School District, said officials are investigating what happened during Friday’s “harrowing events.”
“We are fully cooperating with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department in their investigation,” Coles said in a statement. “We have reached out to the family to provide support to the student who was injured. We ask for the community’s patience as this matter remains under investigation.”
