NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) – There are videos making the rounds on social media that appear to show a New Haven police officer throwing a teenager to the ground at the St. Patrick’s Day parade festivities.
New Haven 15-year-old Teandrea Cornelius’s family describes her as a kind teenager who has a passion for basketball, but Sunday she found herself under arrest.
“She wasn’t intoxicated,” said Cornelius’s brother, Diran Boyd. “That was somebody you could have handled in a different manner.”
Neither the family nor city officials are giving specifics of what led up to her arrest, but Cornelius’s family says she suffered a number of injuries, including a swollen face, black eyes, hurt shoulder, and concussion.
The name of the officer involved has not been released, but city officials released a statement about the incident.
“Earlier today, a video recording of an afternoon arrest of a juvenile, made on 15 March, 2015, was brought to the attention of the New Haven Police Department, Assistant Chief Alfonzo Vazquez, and the Office of Internal Affairs.
Absent any formal complaint but with an abundance of caution, a NHPD Internal Affairs inquiry was initiated to thoroughly review the circumstances of this arrest.
As is the policy of the department, no public statements are made while such inquiries are ongoing.”
News 8 was at the parade, as were hundreds of thousands of other people, and keeping things under control at times was an understandably difficult job for police, but Cornelius’s loved ones say that is no excuse for what happened to her.
Cornelius’s family says it has been in touch with a lawyer.