Body-cam video released by police shows 15-year-old girl pepper sprayed by officers after bike crash

HAGERSTOWN, Md. - Body-camera video released by police shows an incident in which officers pepper-sprayed a 15-year-old girl after her bicycle allegedly hit a car in Hagerstown. Authorities say the girl had refused to cooperate with police trying to question her about the accident and find a parent to authorize her refusal to receive medical treatment from paramedics on the scene.

The 15-year-old girl faces charges of disorderly conduct, second degree assault, possession of marijuana and failure to obey a traffic device. The incident has prompted disagreement about whether the officers acted properly. Click here to watch the full video.

Late Wednesday night, Hagerstown Police released the body-camera footage of the incident. In a press release, police say the video begins with footage from the first officer on the scene. The recording stops, they say, when the camera was disabled when it was kicked by the teen. Video resumes with body-camera footage from another officer who responded. The video, which is 14 minutes and 36 seconds long, was posted by the police department to its Facebook page.

Hagerstown Police Capt. Paul Kifer said the incident happened on Sunday. The white officer who arrested the mixed-race girl had to subdue her with chemical spray to get her into a cruiser for a ride to the police station, he said.

"The investigation had to be done," Kifer said. He said that while she appeared uninjured, police also wanted to make sure the girl wasn't hurt and find out who she was.

"At that point, as would be even with an adult, if you're refusing to give us information on a traffic situation, at that point you can be arrested until we determine who you are," he said.

Kifer said investigators determined that the girl caused the accident. She's also charged with failure to obey a traffic device and marijuana possession. Kifer refused to publicly identify her, citing privacy concerns.

Several officers involved in the girl's arrest remain on duty while the department investigates, Kifer said.

Attorney Robin Ficker, retained by the mother, said police should have taken the diminutive girl to a hospital, as her father did after picking her up at the station. Ficker said she wasn't admitted but suffered sprained muscles and soreness everywhere, including her wrists from being handcuffed. He said she's been unable to participate in high school soccer and wrestling practice.

"I think the soreness is not caused by the car so much as it was caused by the police," he said.

Ficker posted on social media a cellphone video of the arrest that shows the screaming girl being placed in the back seat of the cruiser with her arms behind her, apparently restrained. She refuses to put her feet in the car until an officer sprays from a small aerosol can through the partially open door.

One of the officers tells a concerned bystander, "All we want to do is make sure she's OK."

Ficker said the girl has a white mother and black father. He declined to identify them.

About 50 demonstrators gathered in a parking lot across the street from police headquarters Wednesday, partly blocking traffic and urging cars to honk their horns. Organizer Leon Racks said someone must be held accountable for what he considers police misconduct.

Hagerstown is a city of 40,000 about 70 miles west of Baltimore.

Police are scheduled to hold a press conference to address the incident sometime on Thursday. Lawyers for the family are scheduled to address the media later this evening.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.