The mother of a 13-year-old St. Paul girl whose arrest was captured in a viral video is speaking out.
The controversial arrest of Davida Conover's daughter came to light late last week when a video surfaced on Facebook showing the incident inside the UPS Store on University Avenue in St. Paul.
"I was totally disgusted when I found out about my daughter through Facebook," Conover said.
Conover said she's told St. Paul police in the past that her daughter battles mental illness. "They were fully aware every time I tell them this is the diagnoses that she has," Conover said. "You cannot grab her and you cannot lay on her. You have to talk to her. You can't jump at her."
Police say the girl had been spotted trespassing at another St. Paul business earlier in the day. They finally located the girl at the UPS Store, a store where she was also banned. Police say the girl punched on of the officers in the head while they tried to subdue her.
Portions of the video can be seen below along with comments from a Thursday press conference with St. Paul mayor Melvin Carter.
Carter is calling for St. Paul police chief Todd Axtell to conduct a full internal affairs investigation.
The St. Paul Police Federation is standing by the actions of the officers and say watching a person that's physically reisting arrest is hard, but officers did what they needed to do to control the situation.
Conover didn't discuss whether or not she'd pursue legal action.