Fired Colorado officer accused of punching handcuffed woman who allegedly spat on him
A Loveland, Colorado, police officer was fired after allegedly punching a handcuffed woman who appeared to spit on him in a hospital examination room, authorities said.
In body-camera footage from the May 20 incident shared Friday by the Loveland Police Department, the woman curses at officer Russell Maranto as she is escorted to a chair. She is heard calling the officer names, including a "piece of s---." When the officer takes a piece of paper from her hand, she appears to become angrier.
"Hey, f---ing give it back to me you f---ing piece of s---," she says. "Hey, I can have it. Why can't I have a piece of paper?"
The video shows the woman, identified as Angelia Hall, 59, spit toward the floor while she continues to demand they return the piece of paper to her. She continues to yell before spitting at the officer.
In the video Maranto strikes the woman in the face. A second officer intervenes and steps between the two. The woman screams that she wants video of the officer allegedly hitting her.
"He f---ing punched me in the face," she yells. "I want video of that. I didn't touch him. My hands are handcuffed. ... I can't even fight back."
In a video statement Friday, police Chief Tim Doran praised the second officer for stepping in and said that the officers were "verbally harassed by excessive profanity and periodic racial slurs." He said a supervisor was called to the examination room and the incident immediately reported.
"Loveland, our police department is filled with brave, respectful and honorable public servants and we all agree inappropriate conduct will never be tolerated or downplayed by your department," he said.
The district attorney's office is still considering criminal charges against Maranto, 28, police said. Hall was charged with third-degree assault, police said.
At the time of the incident, Maranto had been with the department for less than a year. It's not clear if he has an attorney who can speak on his behalf. The police union did not immediately return a request for comment on Saturday. Hall could not be contacted.
The police department came under fire in 2020 when a now-former officer injured an elderly woman with dementia during an arrest. The officer, Austin Hopp, pleaded guilty to charges related to the June 26, 2020, arrest of Karen Garner and was sentenced to five years in prison.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
