Witness describes brutal police attack on protester caught on video as Indianapolis police announce investigation

‘She was covered in welts and lines from the clubs’

Police in Indianapolis are investigating a video that shows several officers severely beating a woman to the ground during protests over the killing of George Floyd.

The video, taken on Sunday evening, shows police using batons and shooting a pepper gun at the black woman from point-blank range until she falls to the floor. One officer then pushes her face into the pavement.

Police chief Randal Taylor said the four officers involved in the incident have been reassigned to support duties and will have no contact with the public while the investigation takes place.

“I can promise that regardless of the outcome of that investigation we will be looking at a retrain for that kind of scenario. I don’t like what I saw, but I don’t have all the details yet either,” he said at a news conference on Friday.

Mayor Joe Hogsett said he found the video troubling, adding: “I don’t think there’s anyone that should be able to watch that video and not be moved to emotion.”

The identity of the woman in the video has not yet been revealed and the video does not show what happened prior to the incident, but one witness to the attack told The Independent that it was entirely unprovoked. It took place shortly after curfew was called, at around 8.15pm.

“We were out as medics trying to walk black people back to their cars and get them rides home, because the police chased everyone away from our cars with tear gas right at curfew,” said the witness, who wished to remain anonymous.

“[The victim] came around the corner and was talking about going to her friends car and the police pulled up in a car. She immediately put her hands out to be cuffed.”

She was quickly surrounded by police officers who began to violently subdue her, before she was arrested and taken away.

“She was covered in welts and lines from the clubs. They must have pepper-sprayed her too because she could barely see in the wagon,” the witness said.

They added that the victim “had an open wound on her hand from trying to protect her face and they slammed her so hard she bit her own hand.”

The woman in the video has not yet come forward and local press or police have not identified her. The witness said the woman was detained and charged, but later released on bail.

Protests over the police killing of George Floyd have swept across the country in the past week, with large-scale unrest in all 50 states.

During last weekend’s unrest in Indianapolis, crowds smashed windows in dozens of downtown office buildings, restaurants and storefronts and set a fire that damaged a pharmacy. Local authorities have implemented curfews in recent days. Similar scenes have played out across the country, but the vast majority of the protests calling for racial justice have been peaceful.

Police forces across the country have come under fire for their handling of the protests. Countless videos of police using violence against protesters prompted Amnesty International to issue a statement.

“US police across the country are failing their obligations under international law to respect and facilitate the right to peaceful protest, exacerbating a tense situation and endangering the lives of protesters,” said Rachel Ward, national director of research at Amnesty International USA.

“In city after city, we are witnessing actions that could be considered unnecessary or excessive force. We call for an immediate end to any such use of force and for law enforcement to ensure and protect the legal right to protest,” she added.

Additional reporting by Associated Press