BOSTON — A chaotic scene outside the Ashmont MBTA station in Boston was captured on cell phone video, which shows a transit police officer punching a girl.
“They hit my daughter, they mased my daughter, they kicked her down, there were people here to witness, they transported her to the police station, she’s never been arrested,” said Ashley Smith.
The MBTA says their officers were responding to an assault there Monday afternoon, where a girl was punched and kicked by several other girls.
“During the arrest of the alleged perpetrators, it is my understanding some amount of force was used,” said Richard Sullivan, Transit Police Superintendent. “It would be inappropriate for me to comment on the matter during the review process.”
“It just frightens me that the world we live in, they didn’t protect my daughter at an MBTA station, my daughter was beaten in front of many people,” said Smith.
In the video you can see Smith’s daughter in the pink sweatshirt put her hands on one officer, then another officer turns to punch her.
“Before he punched me, I told him it wasn’t me, he still punched me, I fell,” said Syriah Smith.
She says someone else may have hit that officer, but after she fell to the ground, the officer pepper sprayed her.
“It hurt really bad,” said Syriah. “I never got pepper sprayed before, so I was in shock, I was crying.”
“We need to get a full report from that officer as to what happened before, during, and after that use of force, we need to get a full report from the person who was subjected to that use of force,” said Dan Linskey, Managing Director for Kroll.
Linksey, who has decades of experience in law enforcement, says the use of force by this officer could be justified.
“Police officers get to use one level of force above that which they are encountering,” said Linskey. “So if you’re actively resisting a police officer, putting your hand on a police officer, grabbing a police officer, assaulting a police officer — the officer can then up the ante.”
He says officers could respond to an assault by striking someone or using pepper spray or a baton.
But Smith’s family argues she never assaulted this officer.
“These transit police officers are here to protect and serve, not here to protect and assault,” said Erricka Smith, Syriah’s grandmother.
Smith says her daughter is not facing any charges, and she’d like that officer to be held accountable if excessive force was used.
Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.
Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
©2022 Cox Media Group
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/7QOJU3BNCJERBNKJC5LWTBYFLU.png)
