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Report: Video shows MBTA transit officer punching teen after fight at Ashmont station
Police said the incident is under review.
The family of a teenage girl is calling for accountability after cell phone video, capturing the aftermath of a fight at the Ashmont MBTA station, shows a transit police officer punching the teen, Boston 25 News reports.
According to the news station, police responded to the stop Monday afternoon for the report of an assault taking place, where a girl was being punched by several other girls.
The video shared with Boston 25 News shows a girl in a pink sweatshirt, Syriah Smith, put her hand on one officer, then another one turns to punch her. She falls to the ground.
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“Before he punched me, I told him it wasn’t me, he still punched me, I fell,” Smith told the station.
She told Boston 25 News that when she was on the ground, the officer pepper sprayed her and she was crying.
“They hit my daughter, they maced my daughter, they kicked her down, there were people here to witness, they transported her to the police station, she’s never been arrested,” Ashley Smith, the girl’s mother, told the station.
Smith reportedly isn’t facing any charges.
In a statement to Boston.com, Transit Police Superintendent Richard Sullivan said the incident is under review.
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“It would be inappropriate for me to comment relative to this specific incident at this early stage and while it is under review,” he said. “That being said in general when our officers are engaged in a lawful arrest and are surrounded by individuals seeking to interfere, disrupt and/or assault our officers they have the right to defend themselves with the appropriate measured force.”
Smith’s family told Boston 25 News they want the officer to be held accountable if excessive force was used.
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