The Latest: Cops involved in pepper-spraying remain on duty

HAGERSTOWN, Md. – The Latest on a teenage girl being pepper-sprayed by police in Maryland (all times local):

___

6:45 p.m.

A Hagerstown, Maryland, police spokesman says several officers involved in the pepper-spray arrest of a 15-year-old girl remain on duty while the department investigates.

Capt. Paul Kifer spoke Wednesday evening to about 50 demonstrators who had gathered in a parking lot across the street from police headquarters.

He says the department is preparing to release police body-camera video of Sunday’s incident.

Kifer says an officer sprayed the girl as she resisted his efforts to put her in a cruiser after police determined that she had caused an accident by crashing her bicycle into the side of a moving vehicle.

At one point, the protesters partly blocked traffic and urged cars to honk their horns. Organizer Leon Racks said someone must be held accountable for what he considers police misconduct.

___

This item has been edited to clarify that there were about 50 demonstrators.

___

3 p.m.

Police in Hagerstown, Maryland, say officers pepper-sprayed a 15-year-old girl and charged her with assault and disorderly conduct after her bicycle hit a car.

Capt. Paul Kifer said Wednesday that the white officers who arrested the mixed-race girl acted properly. He says she became assaultive as officers tried to get her into a cruiser for a ride to a police station on Sunday.

Kifer says police needed to question her about the accident and find a parent to sign off on her refusal to receive medical treatment.

The girl’s lawyer, Robin Ficker, says she was mistreated and that she should have been taken to a hospital. He says she has sprained muscles, and sore wrists where she was handcuffed.

Ficker says the girl has a white mother and black father.