The Arizona college cheerleader in a viral arrest video says an officer allegedly “groped” her after apparently slamming her to the ground and punching her — but a police union leader claims she could be angling for a “payday.”
Arizona State University senior Eryn Bonner was hit with two misdemeanor charges last week in Tempe after a video captured cops allegedly tackling and punching her during an arrest in July.
Bonner’s attorney claimed the charges — filed two months after the incident — are meant to shift the blame in an open-and-shut police brutality case.
“They’re trying to protect themselves from civil liability by bringing charges two months later,” attorney Benjamin Taylor told The Post — claiming video shows an officer putting “his pelvis on top of her butt” and groping her rear.
He said a lawsuit is on the table if 21-year-old Bonner can’t get justice.
But a Tempe police sergeant claims Bonner struck the officer multiple times in the face before he threw the punch and even tried to level felony aggravated assault charges before settling for the misdemeanors.
“She punches him five times in the face. He strikes her one time, trying to de-escalate a chaotic scene in the middle of a roadway … I don’t know how they could have done it any better,” Sgt. Rob Ferraro, who is also president of the Tempe Officers Association, told The Post. Ferraro was not involved in the incident and does not speak on the department’s behalf.
“It is absolutely imperative that we as a society scrutinize law enforcement … [but] sometimes there are actors that will want to capitalize on something, or use it as a payday, or not accept responsibility,” he argued.
Both sides pointed to multiple videos of the chaotic scene, in which cops rushed to break up a brawl in Tempe’s bar district.
A viral video posted to social media shows an officer apparently shoving Bonner to the ground, tackling her as she gets up and hitting her as she struggles on the ground.
But another angle of the fracas — captured on a security camera — seems to show Bonner swinging at the officer’s face multiple times before he hits back.
Yet another angle, from an officer’s body-worn camera, seems to show him appearing to touch her butt.
Ferraro dismissed the groping claim, arguing officers used exactly the right amount of force to break up the dangerous, chaotic situation.
“The way we de-escalate is to detain everybody, everybody goes in handcuffs, then we see what happened. … Unfortunately, Ms. Bonner felt the need to litigate or break up what was occurring in the roadway,” he said.
“While the footage raises understandable concerns, it does not provide the full context of the events leading up to the use of force,” said the Tempe Police Department in a statement.
But the officer should have at least tried to de-escalate things verbally, argued Taylor — instead of going straight for the shove.
“For a man to use this much force, he’s just abusing his power. He’s twice her size,” the attorney said.
As for Bonner allegedly striking the cop — she wasn’t punching, she was “flailing,” he argued.
“If he didn’t push her, she wouldn’t be flailing on her back,” he said.
County Attorney Rachel Mitchell declined the police department’s request for felony assault charges — which Taylor sees as an admission of Bonner’s innocence.
Police only decided to pursue misdemeanor charges in city court as a “political prosecution” to “cover up for their police officers’ use of excessive force,” Taylor claimed to The Post.
However, the police department noted that misdemeanor charges were also filed with the city in July and were dismissed after the felony charges fell through — but “with the express intent to refile them,” Tempe PD spokesperson Heather Lerman told The Post on Tuesday.
“The decision to file charges was not made in response to outside influences or to any allegations regarding groping,” she said.
For Ferraro, the two-month saga is an effort to “fictionalize” the situation with a single, viral clip that doesn’t show the whole story.
“It is absolutely imperative that we as a society scrutinize law enforcement … but there also needs to be an understand that sometimes there are actors that will want to capitalize on something, or use it as a payday, or not accept responsibility,” he continued.
“They must be watching a different video than the whole public watched,” Taylor countered.
Bonner has pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and hindering or interfering with police.
