In another instance of alleged police mistreatment caught on video, a social-media video showed police in Charlotte, North Carolina, repeatedly punching a woman on Monday while officers restrained her on the ground, the New York Times reports. Police identified the prone woman being punched by officers as Christina Pierre. On the video, bystanders can be heard objecting to officers' treatment of Pierre, who was taken to a police car. Pierre and Lee are Black; most of the officers appear to be white.
Police said in a statement on Tuesday that Pierre and a man were approached by officers as they smoked marijuana in public and were approached by officers. Police said Pierre punched an officer in the face. The police also said Lee was found to have a 9-millimeter handgun in a bag. Charlotte police chief, Johnny Jennings, did not identify the officer who was punched. He said that the officer had been reassigned but that it was “way too early to tell if the officer would be disciplined. “I get it,” Chief Jennings said on Wednesday. “I understand the outrage. I understand the emotions that come when you look at a video of an officer punching a female,” he said. Jennings said his department would re-examine issues like responses to marijuana and the perception that officers need “to deliver body strikes if we have four officers subduing an individual.”