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A viral video that shows a Texas sheriff’s deputy pinning an 18-year-old woman to the ground sparked an investigation and led to the deputy getting placed on administrative leave.
Footage of the Tuesday incident in Forney, east of Dallas, shows Kaufman County Deputy Conner Martin, who is white, laying on top of the teen, who is black, and then taking her mother to the ground and arresting her.
A body camera video released by the department shows Martin approach the barefoot and agitated teen after cops received multiple calls that she was suicidal and jumping into traffic, police said in a press release.
He repeatedly asks the distraught woman, identified by her mother as Nekia Trigg, why she’s upset. He holds her by the arm while telling her she needs to stay still when she refuses to engage with him, video shows.
“Why are you hurting me?” Trigg is heard asking through tears. “I don’t want you to hurt me.”
When the teen eventually pulls away, Martin pins her to the ground as she repeatedly yells “I can’t breathe,” footage shows.
Later, Trigg’s mother, identified by police as Antanique Ray, came to the scene with other family members and tried to intervene as deputies led the handcuffed teen to a police vehicle.
Ray then “struck Deputy Martin,” the sheriff’s office said, and was taken to the ground by Martin and arrested. Neither the body cam nor viral footage explicitly show an attack on the deputy, as the cameras were obscured or moving during the commotion.
Martin executed a Ju-Jitsu “Top Mount” control position taught by the department to prevent the teen from running into traffic in the residential neighborhood, officials said, adding the move does not impede breathing or cause injury.
Ray was charged with assault on a public servant and interference with public duties in addition to two outstanding warrants, police said.
Trigg was taken to a mental health facility for evaluation, and internal affairs was investigating to see if Martin violated procedure, officials said.
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