Phoenix Cop Roughs Up Teen Girl on Video

Department suspends him, starts investigation
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted May 6, 2011 12:57 PM CDT

YouTube strikes again. A Phoenix police officer has been suspended as the department launches a criminal investigation into whether he used excessive force when arresting a 15-year-old girl, reports the Arizona Republic. The arrest happened in January, but a video only recently came to the department's attention. It shows Patrick Larrison, a six-year member of the force, shoving the girl into a wall as she walks away from a physical altercation with her mother in a parking lot.

"All you see (in the video) is the force that is used to affect this arrest," says a police spokesman, "and at face value, that certainly appears ... outside of the boundaries of what we would consider to be reasonable." Police described the girl as drunk and belligerent before the arrest. She also allegedly assaulted a teacher before the fight with her mother, and has been charged with aggravated assault. (More Phoenix stories.)

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