March 15, 2017
A police officer in Arizona has been placed on restricted duty after he allegedly punched a pregnant woman in the face while she was being arrested for violating a court order.
Rickeda Jobe, 24, was arrested on March 5 by officers from the Gilbert Police Department and a witness caught a portion of the arrest on video, although it does not show the purported punch to Jobe’s face.
The 2-minute video posted on Facebook – which has been viewed more than 112,000 times — shows Jobe screaming at officers as they try to place her under arrest after her mother called cops to say she was causing a disturbance at her home.
“Hey, you can’t hit her, you cannot hit her!” witness Sophia Nunez said. “I got it all on video, too. I cannot believe you can do that. Hey! Quit hitting her now!”
Jobe, who is five months pregnant, told KSAZ she was struck more than once while handcuffed. She acknowledged biting one of the officer’s fingers during the melee.
“He hit me on the face, this whole side, kind of like here,” she told KSAZ. “My hands are kind of swollen still and bruised up.”
Sgt. Darrell Kruger, a police spokesman, told the Arizona Republic that Jobe’s claim that she was punched remains under investigation.
Jobe was arrested for violating a court order stipulating that she could not go in or near her mother’s home after pleading guilty to criminal trespass charges on March 3. She was later placed on probation, the Arizona Republic reports.
She was also charged with felony counts of resisting arrest and aggravated assault against the officers, who were kicked and bitten by Jobe, court records show.
Body-camera footage obtained by the Arizona Republic shows three cops confronting Jobe outside her mother’s home. The purported punch is not shown as Jobe is thrown onto the hood of a police vehicle.
“He just hit me in the face!” Jobe screams at one point, causing Officer Ryan Sheppard to recoil. Jobe had moments earlier spat in Sheppard’s direction as he attempted to take her into custody.
Source: https://nypost.com/2017/03/15/cop-accused-of-punching-pregnant-woman-in-face/