ORANGE, N.J. (AP) — Officials on Friday suspended a New Jersey police officer who was recorded on video grabbing a teen girl by the hair in a scuffle with her and her twin. Twin sisters Nyasia and Kyasia Sorrells told
ORANGE, N.J. (AP) — Officials on Friday suspended a New Jersey police officer who was recorded on video grabbing a teen girl by the hair in a scuffle with her and her twin.
Twin sisters Nyasia and Kyasia Sorrells told News 12 New Jersey they were getting pizza on Thursday across from Orange High School when Officer Hanifah Davis tried to clear the corner.
“He grabbed me and put me in the pizza store and put my arm behind my back,” said Kyasia Sorrells.
“I saw it through the window, and I came outside. And I’m like, ‘what are you doing?’ Then he pushed me, and I had a plate of food in my hand and it fell,” Nyasia Sorrells said. “So then I went back over there, and I’m trying to get him off of her and then he swung me by my hair and started banging her head on the floor.”
Video showed Davis talking to Kyasia Sorrells and then telling Nyasia Sorrells to back up. When Nyasia Sorrells approached, Davis grabbed her by the hair and both girls ended up on the ground with Davis on top of them.
A school board staff member who tried to intervene was ticketed, according to authorities.
High school students on Friday marched to police headquarters, where they demanded justice for the twin sisters.
In a joint statement, Democratic Orange Mayor Dwayne Warren and the police department asked citizens to “withhold judgment and act responsibly until all the facts are known.” They said they would share the facts and will “take all appropriate action.”
A police union representing Davis wasn’t immediately available for comment.
