Crime /

Copied

Police in Hagerstown, Maryland, say officers pepper-sprayed a 15-year-old girl and charged her with assault and disorderly conduct after her bicycle hit a car, the AP reports. Capt. Paul Kifer said Wednesday that the white officers who arrested the mixed-race girl acted properly. He says she became assaultive as officers tried to get her into a cruiser for a ride to a police station on Sunday. Kifer says police needed to question her about the accident and find a parent to sign off on her refusal to receive medical treatment. The girl's lawyer says she was mistreated and that she should have been taken to a hospital. He says she has sprained muscles and sore wrists where she was handcuffed. (Read more Maryland stories.)