ALBANY — A video posted by a local activist shows an Albany police officer grabbing a 16-year-old girl by the hair and throwing her to the ground as he tries to take her into custody after she allegedly intervened in the arrest of another 16-year-old late Wednesday afternoon in Madison Park.
The two 16-year-olds were charged with several crimes after the altercation with city police. The video posted by Chandler Hickenbottom, an activist and member of Saratoga BLM, did not show what started the confrontation.
However, the incident may have begun after one of the teens sat on a police officer’s bicycle tire and refused to move, according to witnesses who can be heard on the video describing what transpired. Witnesses told Hickenbottom the officer pushed the teen off the bike and the two got into an altercation. When a second teen tried to prevent her friend from being arrested, it devolved into the officer wrestling with the girl who intervened and drew a large police response to the park when the officer called for assistance.
Officer Steve Smith, a spokesman for the department, said the department was still reviewing body camera and security camera footage of the incident and had no further comment on Thursday.
Hickenbottom, who lives in Albany, was at a nearby store when she saw part of the incident unfold. A video she posted to Facebook shows the officer pulling the girl’s hair and pushing her to the ground repeatedly as he tried to get control of her. The girl kicks at the officer and at one point appears to hit him in the head with a bicycle helmet.
Hickenbottom said the officer placed his knee on the girl’s neck during the arrest and threw her around like a rag doll. She criticized the force the officer used to make the arrest.
“It’s shameful, it’s sad,” she said. “The child would try to get up and he’d body slam her again.”
After the two teens were taken into custody, other kids at the park can be heard on the video Hickenbottom posted telling another police officer that the incident began when the first teenager, who is non-binary according to Hickenbottom, sat on the officer’s bicycle tire. It’s not clear if the two exchanged words but the kids said they saw the officer push the first teen off his bicycle.
In a statement, Albany police said the teen approached the officer while he was on his bike and “engaged in an altercation with him.”
The first teen was placed in a nearby SUV and officers realized several minutes later they had locked themselves out of the vehicle. At one point the teen can be heard screaming into the police radio. Officers tried to use a clothes hanger in an attempt to unlock the vehicle.
The department placed the police detail in Madison Park in response to residents’ and business owners’ concerns about an increase in crime there. The park was hosting a basketball league when the arrests occurred.
The teen who was initially placed under arrest was charged with four misdemeanors and released on an appearance ticket.
The second teen who tried to intervene in her friend’s arrest was charged with robbery, assault and criminal mischief, all felonies. The robbery charge was the result of a chain allegedly being pulled from the officer’s neck.
She was arraigned Wednesday evening and released under the supervision of probation.
Police said the officer was taken to the hospital for treatment, including a possible concussion from being struck in the head by a bicycle helmet and bites on his arm.