Newly released footage of an officer tackling an 18-year-old Black woman to the ground and punching her in the head after a traffic stop in Arkansas is causing anger and demands for a use-of-force investigation.
Alisa Hackett, of Osceola, Arkansas, was pulled over on State Highway 18 near Manila at about 10:45 p.m. on Aug. 1 after she was seen driving 71 mph in a 60-mph zone with the vehicle’s hazard lights on, according to an Arkansas State Police report of the incident.
When she was pulled over, Hackett told state trooper Moisses Arellano she was rushing home because her car’s window had broken, according to the police report.
Arellano noted that Hackett was not wearing her seat belt, had her license plate covered and had a cold bottle of liquor in the front seat, according to the police report. In the dashcam footage, Arellano can be heard saying, “Why do you have a Tito’s bottle, you’re not even 21?” Later in the footage, Arellano acknowledges the bottle was sealed.
Arellano described Hackett as “being difficult” when he issued her citations, according to the report. He then called another trooper who said Hackett had been pulled over for speeding “a few days earlier” and had an open alcohol container in her vehicle, but was let go with a warning.
The other trooper is heard in the footage telling Arellano, “Well, she got an attitude, take her ass to jail.”
Arellano then decided to arrest Hackett, who is 5-foot-1 and 118 pounds, and asked her to step out of the car, according to the report. After initially complying, “she began turning around and repeatedly asked what she had done,” the police report said, adding she continued to pull away from the officer and he “took her to the ground.”
“After giving multiple commands for her to roll over without compliance, I delivered one closed-fist strike to the left side of her face in an attempt to gain compliance,” Arellano wrote in the report. “After the strike, she continued resisting by pulling her wrists away and refusing to roll over.”
He pointed a stun gun at her midsection, but did not fire, and she then complied in putting her hands behind her back and she was arrested, the report said.
In the video, Hackett can be heard saying, “You cannot punch me in my face.” Arellano responds, “Who said? Who says?” and then “Who said I can’t punch you in your face?”
As he was taking her to the back of his patrol car, Hackett began yelling “Help me” and “Call my momma” to passing motorists, Arellano wrote.
When she was in the back seat of the police car, Arellano can be heard saying, “If you resist, I can punch you, I can read you the policy.”
Prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump said in a statement Monday he wanted Arkansas State Police to open a use-of-force investigation through its Office of Professional Standards, make it public and release any previous use-of-force reports related to Arellano.
“This trooper slammed an 18-year-old girl to the ground and punched her in the face. He wrote it down himself: a closed fist, because she would not roll onto her stomach,” Crump said in a statement. “Alisa asked him what she had done, and the video shows what she got for asking.”
“Arkansas State Police have to explain to the public how that is a reasonable response to a teenager at a traffic stop,” Crump continued. “If you cannot handle a teenage girl without taking her to the ground, cursing at her, and punching her in the face, you should not be wearing a badge.”
Hackett was arrested for refusal to submit to arrest, possession of alcohol by a minor, speeding, not wearing a seat belt, improper display of license tags and an offense for improper headlights.
Attorney Luther Sutter filed a civil rights lawsuit against Arellano on Hackett’s behalf Monday alleging excessive force. However, Sutter said he received a letter from Hackett saying she was switching her representation to Crump, according to local news outlet NEA Report.
In response to a request for comment, the Arkansas Department of Public Safety said, “Our long-held practice is not to comment on matters that are pending litigation.”
The department did not answer whether Arellano is still on active duty.