‘Use of Force’ incident caught on camera during police car stop — VIDEO

Virginia Beach, VA — Virginia Beach Police say they are investigating a “Use of Force” incident that occurred during an arrest that was recorded on a cell phone back in January.

The video was recorded on the cell phone of 18-year-old Courtney Griffith who had been stopped for a traffic violation in the 1900 block of Darnell Drive around 9:00 p.m. on January 10th.

Courtney says she was driving while her 17-year-old friend Brandon was sitting in the backseat. She says she was pulled over for a broken license plate light, but the officer told them to get out of the car saying he smelled marijuana. That’s when the video recording began.

Courtney uploaded the video to her Facebook page on January 27th and it has since been seen nearly 800,000 times.

Virginia Beach Police say they were unaware that anyone had recorded the video until Thursday, but that the internal investigation had already been initiated due to the use of force seen in the video.

The department says they immediately began investigating the incident on their own based on the officer’s self-reported Use of Force report and video captured from the officer’s TASER camera that was submitted the night of the incident.

The involved officer has been placed on administrative duty.

Courtney was issued a summons for a charge of Simple Possession of Marijuana. That charge was dismissed.

NewsChannel 3 spoke with the attorney for Brandon’s family who says Brandon was charged with assault on a police officer. Police would not confirm his charges.