Caught On Video: 16-Year-Old Girl Thrown To Ground During Arrest in Rialto

RIALTO (CBSLA) - A Rialto police officer was placed on leave, according to department officials, after cellphone video of the arrest of a 16-year-old girl emerged.

The arrest, in which the teenage girl can be heard yelling for her brother, occurred last Friday.

Witnesses said the girl was thrown to the ground by officers a few blocks from her house after they saw her riding a mini-bike in the neighborhood.

"They asked her, 'Hey, do you want someone to come pick up your bike and come pick you up?' and she was belligerent from the start. She spit on them. It turned into a little tussle on the ground. They took her to the ground...first, they grabbed her and she kind of fought back. It was a hard drop, you know. They could have been a little bit more delicate," said Michael Estes, who witnessed the incident.

At one point in the video, as the girl is screaming and crying, an officer asks the girl, "Did you just try to bite me, did you just try to bite me?" His hands then appear to be wrapped around her neck.

Cleophus Harris's grandson saw it happen and explained it this way.

"She had the helmet on and once they said, 'We're going to take the bike,' that's when she said, 'My grandaddy made these bikes," and she got mad and threw the helmet, but not at them. She threw it on the ground...then that's when they threw her to the ground," Harris, a neighbor, said.

The end of the video shows officers shoving the 16-year-old girl into the back of the police car. She spent four days in juvenile hall and is now free.

The teenager's attorney wouldn't comment on whether the girl spit on officers, but said the teen has been taken to urgent care for injuries she got during the arrest.

Rialto Police Chief Mark Kling released a statement about the incident that said in part:

"We apologize to the juvenile's family regarding these unfortunate circumstances. At a time when our police department strives to build community relationships, we certainly fell short in this encounter. ...We look forward to building rapport with this family now and in the future."