A video shows police in Worcester, Massachusetts, holding a young girl’s face to the ground as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained her mother on Thursday.
The footage, captured by Telemundo Nueva Inglaterra, shows an ICE agent and police officer pursuing the girl before three additional officers surround her and the ICE agent backs away.
The four police officers then bring the girl to the ground, with at least one grabbing her legs and causing her to lose her balance, according to the video. Two women, one of whom is holding a newborn baby, are then seen attempting to help the girl.
The teenage girl screams throughout the incident, as shown in the video.
According to NBC Boston, ICE agents stopped a mother-daughter pair, another relative, and a newborn baby as they were about to enter a vehicle. According to the neighbors, the girl who was held to the ground was 16 years old.
It is unclear what the immigration statuses of those involved in the incident are. ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the incident.
In Massachusetts, state law generally prohibits local police from assisting ICE with immigration enforcement.
On Thursday, the Worcester Police Department issued a lengthy statement defending their conduct.
Officers were called to the scene “for a report of a federal agent who was surrounded by a large group of about twenty-five people,” according to the department. It also stated that officers received a call from someone “saying that ICE officers were on scene and refusing to show a warrant to the crowd.”
When police arrived, they found a “chaotic scene,” with federal agents arresting a woman and attempting to flee with her in a vehicle.
“The crowd was unruly, and several people were putting their hands on federal agents and Worcester officers in an attempt to keep the vehicle and the arrestee from leaving,” investigators said. “Worcester officers attempted to deescalate the situation and keep everyone safe.”
According to police, as the vehicle attempted to pull away with the detained woman, a juvenile girl holding a newborn baby stood in front of it.
“As the vehicle moved away, she ran after the vehicle and kicked the passenger’s side of it,” according to the police.”It appeared that she was going to run in front of the moving vehicle, and officers took her into custody.”
According to police, the juvenile girl was later charged with reckless endangerment of a child, disturbing the peace, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest.
They also reported that another woman was arrested for pushing officers and throwing an unknown liquid substance at them as they attempted to arrest the girl.
Police identified the woman as Ashley Spring, 38, and charged her with assault and battery of a police officer, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, disorderly conduct, and interfering with a police officer.
Spring did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On Thursday night, Worcester Mayor Joseph M. Petty issued a statement saying he was “deeply disturbed” by the incident.
“Simply put, we cannot have this happen in our community,” he told me.
Petty went on to say that ICE did not notify his office about the detention, and he requested a full report from the city manager about the incident.
