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A Black Arizona State University cheerleader is facing misdemeanor charges after video showed a Tempe police officer shoving her to the ground and restraining her during a July arrest.
Eryn Bonner, 21, was arrested July 19 after approaching officers who were detaining two men following a confrontation outside a bar in Tempe, according to The Independent. Bonner’s attorney, Benjamin Taylor, said one of the men was her boyfriend and the other was their friend.
Body camera footage released by police shows Bonner approaching officers and saying, “Let him go. Bro, he didn’t do s***.” An officer repeatedly told her to “back up.”
After Bonner approached the officers again, one officer shoved her to the ground. A struggle followed, with video showing Bonner being pushed onto a police bicycle as the officer restrained her.
Police have alleged that Bonner struck an officer several times during the confrontation.
Taylor has accused police of using excessive force and said the officer punched Bonner in the face and appeared to touch her inappropriately during the struggle.
“This officer just went berserk, got upset, and just started pushing her and pushing her twice and punching her in the face and then groping her,” Taylor told The Independent.
Taylor said Bonner was “scared” because of concerns about police violence and wanted to make sure her friends were safe.
Bonner faces misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and hindering or interfering with police. She has pleaded not guilty. The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office declined to pursue felony charges.
Taylor called the misdemeanor case a “political prosecution,” alleging authorities are attempting to avoid potential civil liability.
Tempe Police said the incident remains under administrative review and that the department takes “every allegation of officer misconduct seriously.”
The department said it will evaluate the other evidence to determine whether the officer’s actions complied with department policy.
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