By Police1 Staff
SAN ANTONIO, Texas — The San Antonio police chief said he will look into allegations that officers used excessive force after cell phone video surfaced of a woman being arrested for prostitution.
An officer stopped Destiny Rios, 21, last Wednesday, asked her name and found out she had an outstanding warrant, according to a police report. He and other officers then tried to take her into custody, but she resisted, the report said.
In the video, a group of officers hold down Rio while one strikes her several times. The man who shot the video said he heard her yell that she was pregnant, and he told Fox San Antonio she seemed much smaller in size than the officers, questioning whether the number of hits were necessary.
“Size makes no difference, it’s the amount of fight in the person,” Chief William McManus told the news channel. “If the officer felt he needed to strike her eight times in order to get her to comply and put handcuffs on, then that’s how many times he struck her.”
The police report says Rios, who admitted to using heroin that day, was not struck once handcuffs were secured. She remained in Bexar County Jail Monday.
The officers involved remain on regular duty while the chief investigates.
