Caught on cam: Teens charged with assaulting Brampton police officer

A Peel police officer and teenage girl are seen in a still taken from cellphone video in Brampton on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2015.

Two teenage girls are facing a number of charges after a video published online allegedly shows them assaulting a Brampton, Ont., police officer.

Peel Regional Police were called to the yard of St. Marguerite d'Youville Secondary School, located at 10815 Dixie Rd., northwest of Sandalwood Parkway, during the noon hour on Tuesday.

Police were told that two teenage girls from a different high school were trespassing on the property, Const. Fiona Thiverge said.

As they were being arrested for trespassing, Thiverge said one of the girls resisted and started assaulting a female officer. Police have not released her name.

Video of the incident was recorded on a cellphone camera and posted online.

In the video, one the girls can be seen punching and slapping the officer repeatedly, while swearing. The officer is on her knees at the time, but manages to get up and chase after the girl. The second teen then jumps on the officer's back, before both teens flee.

At some point during the assault, the officer used pepper spray on the teens, Thiverge said.

Asked why a TASER was not used during the alleged assault, the head of the Peel Regional Police union, Paul Black, said the officer "deployed what she had on her at the time." He says, however, that the use of a TASER might have been helpful.

He adds that the video only captures the tail-end of the incident that may have started inside the school.

"(The officer) was confronting two violent young ladies. She was in a long, drawn-out struggle," Black said. "You see the end of that struggle, where it appears it ends up in a snowbank, where she’s still operating on her own, trying to gain control."

Black says the officer, a six-year veteran of the force, has since returned to duty. She received minor injuries during the assault.

"She tells me she’s doing fine … she's a humble officer who doesn’t want this attention."

After fleeing, the two teens were arrested by other officers a short while later.

The teens, who cannot be identified under the Young Offenders Act, will appear in court on March 17.

A 15-year-old has been charged with entering a premises when prohibited, obstructing police officer, assaulting a police officer and assisting in escaping lawful custody.

A 16-year-old has been charged with entering a premises when prohibited, assaulting a police officer and escaping lawful custody.