10
Loading video...
By Joshua Rhett Miller
Senior Reporter
0
Share
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
A state trooper in Arkansas punched an 18-year-old woman after telling her to stop resisting arrest during a traffic stop, video shows.
Footage of the encounter, which has circulated widely on social media, shows Arkansas State Trooper Moisses Arellano forcefully taking Alisa Hackett to the ground and punching the woman during the August 1 encounter. Hackett, of Osceola, filed a federal lawsuit Monday in Arkansas and later retained prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump.
...
Read More on News
"This trooper slammed an 18-year-old girl to the ground and punched her in the face," Crump told Newsweek in a statement. "He wrote it down himself: a closed fist, because she would not roll onto her stomach. Alisa asked him what she had done, and the video shows what she got for asking."
Crump called on state police to publicly explain Arellano's actions.
"If you cannot handle a teenage girl without taking her to the ground, cursing at her, and punching her in the face, you should not be wearing a badge," the attorney said.
The trooper conceded in his use-of-force report that the closed fist to the left side of Hackett's face occurred after she refused to roll on her stomach, Crump said.
What the Video Shows:
Warning: This content may be disturbing.
Video from the police cruiser shows the back of the vehicle driven by Hackett as audio captures a phone conversation between the two officers. Arellano reported that he stopped Hackett near Manila for driving 71 mph in a 60-mph zone.
In the video, Arellano can be heard on the radio asking how to write someone a ticket for improperly using their hazards, explaining that she was using her hazards to speed home because of a broken window and had a cold, unopened bottle of "Tito's" in her passenger seat. The trooper then learned she had been stopped days earlier and gotten a warning about a hot, unopened container of alcohol, which she was allowed to pour out, prompting the officers to determine a citation this time wouldn't suffice.
After the conversation concluded, Arellano hung up the phone, stepped out of his vehicle and approached Hackett's vehicle. proceeded to knock on her car and waved her around to join him near the back.
"Place your hands on the trunk for me," Arellano says, to which she complies.
"Keep your hands on the trunk, but take, like, two steps towards me," the trooper says.
It's unclear from the video whether Hackett backs her feet up before the trooper says, "Let me get your left hand real quick."
"Sir, what did I do?" she asks.
"Let me get your left hand real quick," the trooper says again, as he tries to force her to face her car.
"Sir, what did I do?" Hackett asks again.
"Do not, look, do not resist," Arellano says as he held Hackett's right arm behind her back.
"I need to call my mom," she yells.
"No, no," the trooper responded as she tried to turn around again. "Stop."
"But I didn't do nothin'," she says.
Arellano wrapped his arms beneath Hackett's armpits and forcefully spun to the left, sending them both to the ground.
"What am I doing?" Hackett asks. "Oh my god, this is illegal!"
"One resisting," the trooper told a dispatcher via radio.
"I need to call my mom," Hackett says.
"I don't give a f***," Arellano replies, still pinning the woman to the ground. "Turn around!"
"This is illegal," Hackett says just before the trooper punched her, video shows.
"You cannot punch me," she replies while appearing to struggle with the trooper.
"I'll punch you again if you don't f****** turn around," Arellano continued.
"Can I call my mama?" she asks.
"No, we're past that," he says.
"No, you just punched me in my head," she replies.
Arellano then brandished his Taser and activated its laser without firing, video shows.
What She Was Charged With
Hackett was later charged with five counts, including improper display of tags, purchase or possession of alcohol by a minor and refusal to submit to arrest. The charges are still pending, according to Crump, who wants Arkansas State Police to launch a use-of-force investigation and to release any prior use-of-force reports involving Arellano.
Cindy Murphy, an Arkansas State Police spokeswoman, confirmed Wednesday that Arellano remained on active duty, but declined to elaborate on Hackett's lawsuit.
"We don't comment on pending litigation," Murphy wrote in a message.
NAACP officials in Arkansas have also called for an independent probe into the August 1 traffic stop, including the release of unedited recordings and a full review of the arrest and use of force.
"Accountability is not an attack on law enforcement — it is essential to public trust," the group said in a statement Tuesday. "Arkansans deserve the truth."
Hackett, who could not be reached for comment Wednesday, continues to suffer "physical pain, humiliation, fear of law enforcement, anxiety, sleep disturbance, and emotional distress" following her arrest. She's seeking damages and a jury trial.
Hackett's mother, Angie Gavin, said her daughter followed Arellano's instructions during the encounter and initially didn't realize she was being arrested.
"She said, 'I wasn’t resisting. I did everything he told me to do,'" Gavin told Jonesboro Right Now.
Arellano, meanwhile, has been employed with Arkansas State Police for less than a year, Murphy told the outlet. He started working for the agency in September, she said.
Arellano, 27, did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment on Wednesday. It's unclear if he's hired an attorney who can comment on his behalf.
"Eleven days later, he is still on the road with a badge and a gun," Crump said in a statement released Wednesday. "Arkansas State Police say uses of force are reviewed internally. The video is public, the trooper's own report is public, and the only people in Arkansas who will not say anything about it are the people responsible for him."
Arellano should be placed on administrative leave amid any use-of-force review, Crump said.
"Refusing to do it tells Alisa, and every other young person driving through Arkansas at night, exactly who the agency is trying to protect," he added.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Jason Lemon and Gray R. Thomas
View 0 Comments
Submit Correction
View Editorial & AI Guidelines