Video of woman’s arrest by Byhalia PD causes concern

BYHALIA, Miss. — Video of an arrest in Byhalia has many in the community saying police acted too aggressively. In the video, officers can be seen wrestling with the woman before tasing as she lays on the ground.

The Byhalia Police Department posted about the incident on Facebook. That post reads, in part, “The video that is going around on Facebook only shows part of what happened. The female had crystal meth in her possession and given how she was acting, was already high at the time of the traffic stop.”

The post has since been deleted.

“It was all smiles at first,” an eyewitness told FOX13. “Everything was all smiles, so I went inside and turned around after about five seconds and saw her legs hitting the floor.”

The witness, who requested to remain anonymous, said he was on the scene before the cell phone video started recording.

He said the woman was parked in the AutoZone parking lot when officers came up to her.

“You’re about to get tased,” an officer is heard telling the woman. “Get on your face.”

“It was kind of crazy how they were trying to get her to turn over. Didn’t make any sense,” the witness said. “You had one officer with her arm handcuffed, pulling her in one direction, you had another officer bending her other arm in a different direction.”

The witness said seeing the woman tased from just feet away was difficult to watch.

“That was a lady. She was about 150, 175 (pounds) wet. Come on, you’re a grown man,” he said. “You mean to tell me you couldn’t turn that lady over?”

Whether the woman in the video was on drugs or not, the witness believes police treated her too harshly.

“That was somebody’s mother, somebody’s sister, somebody’s grandmother, somebody’s loved one that happened to,” he said. “My point is, did you have to go to that extreme to get this woman to comply?”

FOX13 reached out to Byhalia Town Hall and was told the mayor was not available, adding that the town had no comment.

FOX13 reached out to the Byhalia PD but were told the police chief was not available, adding that a police report would not be available for up to two weeks.