Philadelphia Police Investigating Video Of Officer's Confrontation With Teen
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A video of a police-involved physical altercation with a 16-year-old girl is making the rounds on social media.
Johnnaa Pendleton, 16, says she's still wearing the scars from that day.
"It's all right here," Johnnaa said.
Police were responding to a huge brawl involving 30 to 40 people in the middle of South 54th Street in West Philadelphia on New Year's Day when eyewitnesses captured the incident.
Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross says, "The whole incident was just ugly. Police work is not pretty, this would have been a perfect example."
Ross spoke candidly about the disturbing video saying it doesn't tell the whole story of what may have precipitated the incident.
"You cannot see the striking portion where the female admits that she struck the officer," Ross said. "That is not shown or depicted in the video."
Johnnaa says, "I feel sick. I have a bruise on my face"
Johnnaa claims she never hit the female officer in the face. She says she was backing away when she was violently thrown to the ground and punched.
"As you see in the video, she's yanking my hair," she said.
However, CBS 3's Natasha Brown reports that Johnnaa told police that she did hit the officer.
Johnnaa says, "At the end of the day I'm still a minor and she's a grown woman and a cop."
The officer has been pulled from the streets upon an internal affairs investigation.
***WARNING: Video contains some adult language***
