Video Captures Long Beach Police Beating Woman With Baton
Video has emerged showing Long Beach police in California, dragging a woman to the ground and beating her with a baton outside a bar in the 200 block of Pine Avenue about 2 a.m Sunday.
The footage, captured by multiple witnesses, shows 25-year-old Ashleigh Sola being hit with a baton multiple times while another officer has her in a chokehold.
Sola says the officers detained her for unknown reasons and used excessive force, resulting in massive bruises and pain.
“I just remember being dragged to the floor,” the woman said.
Police claim Sola and her friend were interfering with an arrest they were attempting to make after they responded to ‘fight’ between two men at the bar.
Officers say they tried to arrest the main aggressor in the altercation but Sola’s group intervened.
“In order to protect the safety of the victim, officers used force to arrest the violators,” Long Beach Police Sgt. Megan Zabel said.
Witnesses say however, that the fight was really just more of an ‘argument’ and was over by the time police arrived.
“There was nothing for them to break up,” witness Sophia Lopez said. “We were going to go our separate ways and they just went in and started swinging batons for no reason.”
Jose Molino, one of the witness who captured the footage on his cellphone said, “The girl was actually trying to cooperate … and the officer just [threw] her down and start[ed] beating her.”
Police arrested Sola and three others on various charges including interfering with a police investigation and failure to disperse.
Sola and the two men suffered involved in the altercation suffered ‘minor injuries,’ police say, and were taken to a hospital.
An internal investigation into the incident has been launched.
Local news coverage containing raw footage:
