CHULA VISTA (NEWS 8) – A Chula Vista police officer is under investigation after he was caught on video tackling a teenager to the ground. The altercation happened at a park on Wednesday.
Loma Verde Park connects to SDG&E Park in a spot where Chula Vista police said is in between two gang territories. According to police, that is what led an officer to pull over and investigate and alleged gang sign thrown up.
That turned into a physical altercation that some are calling excessive use of force.
Liz Borja, who is 16-years-old, is a South Bay resident. She told News 8 a Chula Vista police officer used excessive force on her.
The altercation was captured on video by Marco Amaral, a teacher who witnessed the incident. “In that moment, as a teacher my heart dropped to the floor.”
Video shows Chula Vista police officers at SDG&E Park surround a group of students. An officer is seen slamming Liz, who attends Castle Park High School, to the ground.
Liz said the officer pushed her to the ground using his body weight. "He hurt me a lot." She claims she suffered a swollen wrist and shoulder as well as injured knee and neck in the altercation.
Captain Vern Sallee with the Chula Vista Police said the video “does not give the totality of the circumstances that the officers faced. However, we will thoroughly investigate this and told officers accountable if they violated any type of policy.”
Captain Salle said during a press conference on Friday that the department has opened an internal use of force investigation. “We will look at the reasonableness of use of force in this instance. We will look at them proportionality of use of force.”
He said the whole incident started from resource officers and parks department workers who noticed an uptick in gang graffiti. Captain Sallee said an officer who was patrolling the park area saw a teen hold up a gang sign. “It became a very tense situation as the juveniles refused the officer’s order to stay away.”
The incident lasted about 20 minutes back and forth between police and the teens where four teenagers were detained.
“He saw the police roll by and threw up the deuces sign,” said Amaral. Amaral said none of the students were in a gang, but the 16-year-old threw a water bottle, hitting an officer. “It was not until that the girl threw an empty 16 once water bottle that this officer took it upon himself to become Rambo in that moment and attack this young female student.”
As the investigation commences, community members want accountability. The incident involved at least a dozen officers about dozens teens. Police said they are reviewing but not releasing multiple officers’ body cameras.