‘Should Not Even Have Had His Hands on Her’: California Cop Caught on Video Body Slamming Handcuffed Teen Like a ‘Rag Doll,’ Prompting Outrage and Calls for Investigation
A viral social media video showing a San Bernardino police officer viciously body-slamming a 17-year-old girl last week has sparked outrage and calls for an independent investigation.
The brutal arrest occurred the afternoon of May 21 outside a grocery store in the 500 block of West Second Street. Police responded to a report of a person trespassing at the San Bernardino Food4Less and trying to start a fight. When officers arrived, several teenagers in the parking lot scattered, but one of them, a girl identified only as Erin, found herself singled out.
Three of the officers reportedly stood guard while a fourth grabbed the girl and tried to handcuff her. The officer managed to cuff one of her wrists before she started resisting. That’s when the patrolman flung the girl to the ground face-first, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The girl suffered several injuries during the incident and required immediate medical treatment for a dislocated wrist and cuts to her chin and face that required stitches, according to KTLA.
Afterward, police reportedly claimed Erin “fell” during the arrest, but the video circulating on social media shows the officer manhandling the lightweight girl.
The person filming yelled, “Hey!” and walked toward the fracas, with Erin now lying on the asphalt, bleeding. Two officers extended their batons and yelled for the person filming to back up.
Footage of the violent takedown was partially obscured by a police vehicle, and only captured the moment when the girl’s legs crashed violently into the pavement after being lifted off her feet and flipped over like a “ragdoll,” said the girl’s father, Christopher Crowser.
“He should not even have had his hands on her, but he picked up my child like she was a ragdoll and slammed her to the ground,” he said, adding, “I want justice.”
The clip does not show the full extent of the girl’s injuries due to Instagram’s restrictions on graphic content.
For now, the officer’s identity has been withheld by the department.
The family is urging California Attorney General Rob Bonta to launch a formal investigation into the officer’s actions and how the department handled the arrest.
In a statement posted to social media, the San Bernardino Police Department defended the officer’s actions.
“At the time of the physical encounter, the officer was attempting to place the female in handcuffs. The officer was only able to place one of her hands in cuffs when she began actively pulling away and attempting to walk off from the officer, when a takedown maneuver was used.”
The department added: “The San Bernardino Police Department is committed to impartial and accountable policing. Use of force is applied based on behavior, not on age, gender, or race.”
In response, Erin’s family called a press conference Sunday, where the teenager appeared alongside her mother, grandmother, and other supporters, demanding justice and questioning the department’s account of what happened.
“I’m just in a lot of pain. I’m hurt everywhere—my head, my whole body. I’m not the same person I was,” Erin said. “Since that day, I’ve been in a lot of pain and I’m scared to go to sleep,” she explained, according to KTLA. “If I walk outside, even just taking out the trash, I’m scared because I don’t know what’s going to happen to me.”
Her mother, Tanya Brownridge, said the teen continues to suffer from injuries nearly a week after the incident. “I’ll be taking her to the hospital again today. She’s still complaining about her face hurting, her head hurting, her wrist hurting, her legs hurt, her back hurt. Let’s just get justice for my baby,” Brownridge said.
According to the family, Erin and her friends were inside the store when they were attacked by another group of teens. They claim Erin was targeted by officers despite doing nothing wrong.
“I’m not OK because that grown man knocked my baby out cold,” said Erin’s grandmother, Rhonda Taylor. “You could see the blood by the police car where it busted her chin open. It’s not OK. She’s a baby. She’s a baby. It’s not OK.”
The family says Erin is suffering from cement burns on her face and a bruised wrist. They also claim they were misled by conflicting information from authorities in the hours following the incident.
The family’s attorney told KTLA they plan to sue the San Bernardino Police Department.
“I just want justice for my baby. She didn’t do anything. The fact that I had to drive two hours— they let her bleed out for three hours in the hospital before they stitched her up,” Brownridge said. “They gave us three different stories — one to me, one to my mom, and one to my sister. I just want justice, that’s it.”
The video, which has circulated on Instagram via the account Mr. Checkpoint, has drawn widespread outrage, with social media critics calling out the department for past incidents of police misconduct.
“San Bernardino just paid out a $5 million lawsuit for killing an unarmed person,” one person wrote in the comments, referencing a separate case from December 2023. That incident involved Robert Brown, a 28-year-old man shot and killed by police after a foot chase. Body camera footage showed Brown dropping a handgun twice while fleeing, though police claimed he had the weapon in hand when the officer fired. The gun was later confirmed stolen, and Brown had a no-bail warrant and prior convictions.
“San Bernardino police need to do better,” the commenter added.