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Bodycam video shows Marion police punch, pepper spray teen girls during arrest at Grant County roller rink
Apr 03, 2025
(WXIN/WTTV) — Bodycam footage released by Marion police shows officers punch and pepper spray multiple teens during the controversial arrests of two teenage girls outside a Grant County roller rink. While officers say they were battered, the girls' mother is alleging police brutality.
The incid
ent began around 8 p.m. last Saturday when a Grant County sheriff's deputy was called to Idyl Wyld Roller Rink for a disturbance. It ended with violence and two teenage girls being pepper-sprayed and arrested.
In a media release sent Wednesday, Marion police officials alleged the girls had kicked officers and resisted arrest which prompted the use of force. In a series of Facebook posts since the incident, the mother claims her son and daughters were unjustly attacked and injured.
Bodycam footage
Marion PD released edited bodycam footage from several officers involved on Wednesday. The videos provide more context to what happened, but are heavily blurred in some places.
The videos mostly begin with MPD officers arriving on scene to assist a Grant County deputy with the investigation. Officers are quickly informed that a group of juveniles standing in the parking lot need to be trespassed from roller rink property. Some of the teens are yelling.
"No more yelling out of everybody," one officer says. "You shut your mouth."
One officer threatens to arrest a teenage boy wearing black for disorderly conduct if he does not back up and stop yelling. At the same time, other officers begin yelling at a teen girl in a gray shirt who is walking away from the scene.
"You come here now or you go to jail," one officer says.
Another one of the teen girls standing around tells police that a group of adults — including a 22-year-old woman — were threatening to fight her and her siblings. Officers then try to take one of the teen boys away for questioning, but the girl in the gray shirt opposes.
"You don't have to talk to him over there," she says. "You talk to him right here."
"You don't tell me what to do, you shut your mouth," one officer replies.
"Hey, shut up," another officer replies. "You all can go to f***ing jail, is that what you want? Shut up!"
The girl in the gray shirt again begins to take a few steps away from the officers.
"You in the gray shirt, come here now," an officer yells. "Put her in cuffs!"
The girl in the gray shirt is then grabbed from behind while an officer tells her, "you're jailed." The teen starts moving her arms before the same officer shoves her onto the hood of a car. At the same time, a teen girl in a black shirt walks up behind the officer who is grabbing her sister.
One cop wrestles the girl in the gray shirt from behind before taking her to the ground, while another leans in and pepper-sprays her. Soon after, she is handcuffed and rolled into a sitting position.
"Can you give me my glasses? I can't see," the girl in the gray shirt says.
"No, you can sit there for a minute. You f***ing put yourself in this situation," a cop responds. "For God's sake, you couldn't act like a f***ing adult."
At the same time the girl in gray is being detained, a sheriff's deputy and an officer forcibly slam the girl in the black shirt to the ground. You can later hear officers allege she tried to jump on one of their backs.
Bodycam footage shows the girl in black hit the ground hard on her back, knocking her glasses off her head and her phone from her hand. Her legs are seen flailing in the air as she wriggles around the ground, which two officers later said resulted in her kicking them.
Girl in black's foot is seen swinging in the air after being tackled
"She kicked me right in the f***ing face," one said.
"Yeah, she kicked me too," another replies. "[That is] battery of police."
Once she hits the ground, the teen girl in black is pepper-sprayed by one officer while another kicks her in the lower body at least once and punches her in the chest at least once.
While she is still laying on her back, the girl in black is repeatedly told by officers to "put [her] f***ing hands behind her back." At that point, another cop comes up with his pepper spray in hand and tries to spray the girl in black.
However, another officer stops him and says she has already been sprayed. At this point, the officer with spray in hand turns around and threatens to spray any bystanders who are getting too close.
The girl is then rolled onto her stomach and her head pushed into the wet pavement while two officers attempt to cuff her.
After both teenage girls are handcuffed, several officers begin discussing how they were hit with pepper spray and begin complaining about the pain. Meanwhile, both girls are sitting on the ground in the rain while the teen boy in black yells at the officers.
"She goes and walks two steps away and you f***ing pepper spray her? You goofy," the boy says.
"I didn't pepper spray us, I got sprayed jacka**," the cop replies. "So shut your mouth."
Soon after, the boy is pushed into the bumper of a car and handcuffed as he continues arguing with officers. One deputy is then heard calling for a "paddy wagon."
"That's why your a** is in cuffs because you run your mouth, run your mouth," an officer says. "Shut up."
"I don't give a f*** about going back to jail," the boy says.
"I don't give a f*** about taking you," the officer replies.
The teen in the gray shirt is then stood up by an officer, who she tells to "stop being so rough!"
Girl in gray is walked to car while an officer tries to trip the boy in black
"I'm not going to be any nicer to you, so stop," the officer replies.
"I can't see," she says. "How do you want me to walk when I can't f***ing see?"
"Yeah well, I got pepper-sprayed too because of how you acted," he replies. "Shut up and get in the car."
After the girl in gray is taken to a car, officers begin trying to get the teen boy in handcuffs to "sit down on the f***ing ground right now." When the boy struggles to sit, one officer is seen using his knee to push him to the ground.
"What the f***. How are you gonna knee me in my stomach?" the boy asks.
"Because you're not listening," the officer responds.
Another officer then walks over to the girl in black, who is still sitting on the ground. She tells the officer she also cannot see. The officer says he will guide her to the squad car as she walks and turn the air conditioning on for her once she is inside. The girl then asks for water.
"Lean your head back and face the wind," he replies. "Water is not going to do any good for you."
At least one officer can be heard discussing how the girls now face charges of battering a police officer, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
While most of the footage provided by MPD ends once the juveniles are put into squad cars, at least one video from law enforcement shows the girls' parents arrive on scene. The mother of the girls is threatened with arrest by officers, who appear to be mad she is yelling.
What the mother says happened
The mother of the girls who were arrested has been active on Facebook since the incident, providing her point of view as to what happened.
The woman said her children — which include the teen boy in black and both girls who were arrested — had been dropped off at the roller rink by her husband, who went inside with them and paid for their skates. She claims after her husband left, the owner of the roller rink called the police for a fight that allegedly never occurred.
The mother says her son had recently been the target of threats after turning down a young girl who made advances on him. She said the people making threats against her son, which included adults, were at the roller rink waiting for her children and began harassing them.
This reportedly led to police being called to the scene and the alleged argument spilling outside into the parking lot. The woman said that once police arrived on scene, they focused on her children and let the real instigators leave without being interviewed.
She alleges her children did not hit any police officers and said they were the victims of excessive force by several officers. She also said that once she arrived on scene to help handle the situation, she was met with curse words and threats of arrest from police.
The mother also claims her children were never read their Miranda Rights before being detained. The edited bodycam footage provided by law enforcement does not ever show any of the teens being read their rights.
Furthermore, the mother claims her two daughters were taken away without officers even explaining the charges. She claims court officials would not let her know where her children were being taken and did not provide any info on their case until the following Monday.
Finally, the mother alleges that once her children were released from court, they were treated at a local hospital for several injuries. One of the daughters involved reportedly broke a finger, while the son, who was not arrested, had liver damage and a swollen face.
What police say happened
In a media release sent Wednesday, Marion police gave their version of what happened, alleging that their officers were battered and saying their use of force was justified.
MPD said their officers were called to assist a Grant County sheriff's deputy who had responded to a fight outside of Idyl Wyld Roller Rink. Upon arrival, they say the GCSO deputy was "attempting to communicate and deal with a group of citizens who management had requested be issued criminal trespass notices." GCSO later confirmed this.
Police say the deputy's attempts to "gain cooperation" were met with "resistance" from a group of six juveniles.
"Three of the juveniles were cooperative from the beginning, and no police action was taken against them other than being criminally trespassed and released to their parents," GCSO said.
MPD said a female — likely the girl in gray — began walking away despite "repeated directions given" to stop. The deputy then asked an officer to cuff her, police say.
"As the MPD officer attempted to do so, the female forcibly resisted and pulled away from the officer aggressively and resisted physically," police wrote. "At the same time, another female subject quickly approached the MPD officer from behind and grabbed him forcefully."
MPD claims the nearby GCSO deputy then "took the second female to the ground to stop her aggressive action." They claim she "aggressively resisted" once on the ground and kicked two Marion officers.
"Multiple verbal commands were ineffective and use of force was needed to gain control," MPD wrote. "GCSO and MPD officers were involved in this process."
GCSO said the teen boy, who was "initially uncooperative," later became compliant and was also released to his parents.
MPD's release makes no specific mention as to what force was used by police — never mentioning any punches thrown by officers or pepper spray used. The release also skips over the teens being detained or arrested.
"When it became possible, the citizens who resisted and were arrested were provided a medical assessment and their parents were allowed to speak with them before they were transported."
A GCSO release states the two juvenile girls were arrested and preliminarily charged with resisting law enforcement and battery on a police officer. Marion Police referred all charging questions to GCSO.
MPD's statement ends by saying the department is grateful "no serious injuries occurred during the incident" and "order was restored."
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