A Milwaukee County deputy was caught on video punching a 17-year-old girl, per CBS 58.
The incident unfolded on Sunday (Oct. 22) when Envy Hampton, 17, and her friends Keviona Brown and Alivia Jee visited the Milwaukee County Zoo.
“We wanted to go have fun and go home and it was just a problem after that,” Jee said.
As they were leaving the zoo, the friends said they were surrounded by deputies. Hampton’s sister, Nayah Dowell, 26, who came to pick up the group from the zoo, was pulled out of her vehicle by deputies, the friends said. Video shows Brown screaming as she attempted to pull Dowell back into the car.
At one point during the encounter, Brown said she saw Hampton being struck by an officer on the ground.
“I only recorded him hitting her three times in the video but before I started the video, he was already striking her,” Brown said.
The Milwaukee County sheriff’s office said the video, which has gone viral on social media, doesn’t paint the full picture. According to the sheriff’s office, deputies were called to the entrance of the zoo for a reported fight, which they didn’t see.
The friends said there was a verbal disagreement within the group but the altercation never turned physical. When Dowell arrived to pick up the group, the older sister said she was met with hostility from police. She declined to show her I.D. when asked and claims she wasn’t told about the reported fight.
According to the Sheriff’s Department, body camera footage shows the people in the vehicle weren’t cooperative. The department alleged that Hampton shoved and hit a deputy with a closed fist. That’s when the deputy used force to handcuff Hampton and take her into custody, the department said.
The friend group said Hampton swung at police but missed.
Hampton and her sister were arrested the night of the incident. Hampton is facing charges including Battery of a Law Enforcement officer. Her bail was set at over $5,000, according to her family.
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