A Philadelphia woman seen on video being punched in the head by a police officer on a New Jersey beach said Tuesday she didn’t spit at the officers before the weekend beach altercation.
An attorney for Emily Weinman, 20, of Philadelphia told Philly.com the charges against her are exaggerated.
Wildwood, New Jersey Mayor Ernie Troiano defended the police Tuesday, noting Weinman was ‘by far the aggressor here’ and pointing out that women can be harder to subdue than men.
A Philadelphia woman seen on video being punched in the head by a police officer on a New Jersey beach said Tuesday she didn’t spit at the officers before the weekend beach altercation
‘We’re not dealing with an angel here. She chose to take on the police. The police did their job,’ said Troiano, who added he’s a former bouncer.
‘(Women) can be hard to control. They’re kicking. They don’t care.’ Troiano said that Weinman ‘chose to attack the officer, spit on the officer.’
‘Look I don’t care who you are and what you are, the worst people (to try to subdue) are women,’ he said.
Weinman told the reporter in a Facebook message that she was spitting sand out of her mouth after being knocked to the ground, not spitting at the officers.
In the video one of the officers yelled ‘Stop resisting!’ as the other is seen hitting her twice in the head before body slamming her on her back
She’s facing two counts of aggravated assault on a police officer, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest and other charges, according to Wildwood police.
The officers have been reassigned to administrative duty during the investigation into the actions on the video.
The video filmed by another beachgoer Saturday and posted to social media shows two officers trying to subdue Weinman, with one officer hitting her in the head twice with a closed fist.
In the video one of the officers yelled ‘Stop resisting!’ as the other is seen hitting her twice in the head before body slamming her on her back.
‘I’m not resisting. I didn’t do anything wrong,’ Weinman is heard saying as she kicks her legs at the officers.
‘You’re not allowed to hit me like that,’ Weinman repeatedly tells the officers who continue to hold her down and proceed to handcuff the young woman.
A baby can be heard crying in the background and is believed to be Weinman’s 18-month-old daughter who was being held by her father when her mother was arrested.
Weinman, who went to the beach with her family and a friend, posted the incident on Facebook with a lengthy description of what she says happened.
Wildwood, New Jersey Mayor Ernie Troiano defended the police Tuesday, noting Weinman was ‘by far the aggressor here’ and pointing out that women can be harder to subdue than men
She claims the incident started when the cops approached her on their four wheelers and asked her and her friend for their ages because there was alcohol near them.
‘I had alcohol, it’s Memorial Day weekend and 90 per cent of people are underage drinking on the beach, without a doubt,’ she wrote.
The pair cooperated with the officers and gave them their ages before getting breathalyzed.
‘It came back negative. I told them I wasn’t drinking and the alcohol was clearly closed/sealed, which the cops seen,’ she wrote on Facebook.
Weinman said the cops still stayed near them, with one even following her when she walked away to make a phone call.
She’s facing two counts of aggravated assault on a police officer, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest and other charges, according to Wildwood police
A baby can be heard crying in the background and is believed to be Weinman’s 18-month-old daughter who was being held by her father when her mother was arrested
‘I asked them don’t they have something better to do as cops than to stop people for underage drinking on the beach, saying to that there’s so much more serious stuff going on… the cop said, “I was gonna let you go but now I’ll write you up” and he asked my name.
Weinman said that she didn’t ‘do anything wrong and anything could’ve been written down on that paper so I wouldn’t give it to him’.
She said the officers told her that they were going to arrest her despite her telling them that she was at the beach with her young daughter.
‘He told me he’s arresting me and started coming towards me to put handcuffs on me. I cautiously was backing up from him (facing him) and yelled for my daughter’s father,’ Weinman wrote.
Weinman said that she ‘tripped and fell and the cop tackled me to the ground and smashed my head into the sand’.
Within moments, Weinman said she blacked out and tried to get up and push the officer off of her.
‘That’s when he head locked me by [putting] his arm around my neck, punched on me in my head and then he head locked me again but this time choking me, I was gasping for air,’ Weinman claims.
Weinman admitted that she should’ve just given the officer her name to avoid the incident, but ‘the whole situation was iffy and I didn’t trust it’ she said.
She also said that she is underage, but she hadn’t been drinking. She said she shared the video because the ‘situation was handled wrongly and blew out of proportion’.
Weinman said after she was handcuffed, the officers didn’t bother to take the beer that was next to her.
She believes they were just ‘there to stir the pot’.
Troiano said the officers’ body camera footage will show a different story, including the woman’s spitting at the officers and kicking one in the groin.
Stephen Dicht, Weinman’s attorney, called the mayor’s comments ‘irresponsible.’ He said he was appalled by the number of people who had posted that Weinman ‘got what she deserved.’