Disturbing image shows police drag student, out of car by her hair

Disturbing footage shows a student being wrestled out of the front seat of her car after a traffic stop.

Samantha Luna, 20, is seen being forced down with one officer’s hand in her hair and another holding her arms behind her back.  

The video has gone viral over the perceived heavy-handed response. Police stopped the car as one of the passengers was hanging out of the sun roof in Arcata, California.

 

They said they suspected underage drinking, and arrested Luna on suspicion of resisting arrest, battery of an officer, public intoxication, and providing false identification to a police officer.  

Luna appears to have been dragged out of the car after an argument with one of the officers over which name to give.  

She had been reluctant to give her full surname, which is Alonso Luna, preferring to go just by Luna.  

The officer asks: ‘What’s on your license?’  She responds by saying ‘Alonso Luna’ and the officer says ‘That’s what you should have told me.’

Shortly after this, the officer grabs her saying ‘You’re going to jail,’ as Luna screams to her friend to film what is happening. It took several officers to restrain Luna, who tries to resist the arrest.  

At one point she apparently grabs one of the officers by the hair, who shouts in response ‘Cut my hair, I don’t care’.  

Police say they are reviewing the video from June 16.