Last month, it was an 84-year-old woman, now it’s a child.
If not for cell phones and cameras, would these injustices be out in the open?
The Hagerstown Police Department is under heavy scrutiny after a video went viral of officers spraying pepper spray into the back of a police cruiser where a teenage girl was handcuffed, according to Herald-Mail Media.
The video was obtained from the Facebook Page of Robin Ficker Law Offices, who is representing the girl and her family. In the video, you can hear the girl speaking in a panicked manner, requesting that the officers find a Black officer named “Zach” to help her. You also hear a bystander tell the officer he is letting the badge go to his head.
According to Ficker via U.S. Uncut, the pepper spray was not washed out of her eyes for over three hours, and police requested that hospital staff refrain from taking pictures of her injuries during her stay.
“The only treatment she got (from police) was slamming, abuse and Mace,” said the girl’s family attorney, Robin Ficker.
Police have since charged the girl with failure to obey a traffic device, possession of marijuana, two counts of second-degree assault, and disorderly conduct. The girl is reportedly on the honor roll at school and before this incident, had no criminal record.
