POLICE in the United States have defended a white officer caught on video punching a black teenage girl in the face.
Police officer Ian Walsh, from Seattle, punched the 17-year-old as he struggled with her and another woman who were resisting arrest.
The head of civil rights group Seattle Urban League, James Kelly, said the punch was an overreaction that brought to mind a video taken on April 17 of two Seattle officers kicking a Hispanic suspect.
Police are conducting an internal investigation into the latest incident.
However the president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild, Rich O’Neil, said Officer Walsh was justified in punching the young woman, who had shoved him in a dispute over jaywalking.
He told KCPQ-TV that punching her in the face was an appropriate use of force, as the officer struggled with the two women and a crowd formed.
Mr O’Neil said it was wrong to call the punch police brutality or racist.
Acting deputy police chief Nick Metz said the women bore much of the responsibility for resisting arrest.
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