Lawsuit: Teen burned when pinned on hot sidewalk by police

PHOENIX (AP) — A 17-year-old girl suffered second-degree burns on her arms last summer when Phoenix police officers pinned her on a sidewalk on a day when temperatures reached 113 degrees Fahrenheit (45 Celsius), according to a lawsuit filed Monday by the teenager.

The teen, who was arrested for her involvement in an Aug. 20 fight against another high school girl at a bus stop, alleged officers who responded to the scuffle slammed her to the ground and pinned her face-down on hot concrete. Her skin peeled off her body when officers removed her from the sidewalk, the lawsuit said.

Phoenix police say the teen refused to listen to officers and began to kick and pull away. The police department said the officers didn’t violate its use of force policy.

The Associated Press isn’t naming the girl, who is now a high school senior, because it generally doesn’t identify juveniles charged with crimes. Police say the teen was sentenced to probation after she pleaded guilty to an aggravated assault charge stemming from the fight with the other student.

Police spokeswoman Sgt. Mercedes Fortune said the teen was handcuffed within 33 seconds of being taken down to the sidewalk and was then brought to a shaded bus bench. Fortune said officers were told at the time that the teenager didn’t need to be hospitalized.

Once she was released from jail, the girl’s mother took her to an emergency burn unit where she was diagnosed with second-degree burns, the lawsuit said.

Her injuries have left permanent scars and required her to undergo a procedure where her dead skin was scrubbed and scraped off to reveal new tissue underneath, the lawsuit said.