Sacramento Police Continue to Face Backlash after Report of Officer Throwing Pregnant Woman to Ground
SACRAMENTO -- When Sacramento police supervisors first reviewed the body cam video connected to their raid of Zityrua Abraham's apartment, the department told FOX40 nothing seen warranted an internal investigation.
Abraham has now made a citizen's request for one, and the video has been made public.
One of four clips released shows the moment Abraham says police went too far -- a moment she and her neighbors told FOX40 about exclusively the day after it happened -- the moment she says she was tossed down on her 7-month pregnant belly in a raid of the wrong house.
Four days into the tenure of a new police chief, the body cam video FOX40 asked for a month ago is available.
"My first reaction was..." said Abraham, looking down. "I was shocked a little bit and I was just irritated."
Shocked and irritated because Abraham doesn't understand why there's no straight on view of her hitting the ground, since she took down the badge numbers of at least seven officers on scene.
You can only see her on the ground as the image is reflected in the window of her apartment.
On July 9, officers say they were in fresh pursuit of a second suspect tied to a stolen car when they came to Abraham's home.
They suspect they were chasing was a violent felon.
They spotted Abraham's mother's boyfriend -- who turned out not to be their man -- but at the time they thought he was.
When he ignored their commands, they say Abraham tried to block them.
"At that point one of the officers grabbed the female by the arm. During that time she fell to the ground," said Sgt. Bryce Heinlein with the Sacramento Police Department.
"I have a baby in my stomach, I'm not fixing to just fall or exaggeratedly fall. I'm not fixing to do anything to harm my son," said Abraham.
When asked if the actions of the officer who tugged at her pregnant arm were appropriate Heinlein said, "So not going to go into what I think. That's part of the ongoing administrative investigation that's going on."
"I wasn't in the way. I was telling them this is my home, trying to figure out what's going on. I got a 1-year-old that lives here. We wasn't doing nothing but minding our business that day," said Abraham.
Her toddler was was asleep inside her apartment as officers raced up, guns drawn.
Is it reasonable for a mother in that situation to question what was happening?
"I think the video speaks for itself on that. It's an unfortunate incident that happened during a very fluid situation," said Heinlein.
"I knew they were going to try to justify this whole thing. Right is right and wrong is wrong and. That was wrong what they did, all the way around," said Abraham.
She was taken to the hospital shortly after ending up on the ground last month and says she has been having contractions ever since.
Her second son is not due until October.
She was not arrested in connection with the raid.
Her mother's boyfriend was not arrested in connection with the raid.
Disclaimer: These videos contain strong language. Viewer discretion is advised.
The man detained in the video was ultimately released and not charged.
Another piece of video is from the body camera of an officer who responded after the fact. In it, he speaks with Abraham and asks another officer to call an ambulance for her.
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