A video posted on social media shows how a Westminster police officer in southern California punches a Hispanic woman who was already handcuffed twice in the face.
The Police Department has indicated that it is investigating what happened and claims to have put the officer on paid administrative leave.
The arrest was captured on video with a person's cell phone on Wednesday around 4 p.m. on Locust Street, in the community of Westminster, north of Orange County.
The beaten woman was later identified by authorities as 34-year-old Ciomara García, originally from this city.
The agents arrived at the scene after someone reported that Garcia had allegedly assaulted an Asian woman who was trying to rescue a dog that was running down the street.
Police said Garcia showed signs of being under the influence of drugs.
"Basically [Garcia] put his fist on her arm but did not hit her, and that's when the Asian woman left and, like 20 minutes later, she came back and about seven or eight policemen showed up," said a witness.
"Everyone knows her in the neighborhood," said another witness, Sandy Armenta, who took the video of the arrest.
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Adolpho Rosales, García's brother, said the officers came to his house shouting his name.
"She is bipolar, she has schizophrenia," he said, "I think they could do a better job since they already have a history with her, they already know her."
According to the witness who took the video, García hit one of the three officers on the thigh when they arrested her, and that was when he punched her twice in the face.
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The video does not show what happened before the struggle.
Garcia had an outstanding arrest warrant for vandalism, according to police.
According to this, the agents called the paramedics and, while they were waiting for them, she "was aggressive" with them and one of them "used force and hit García twice in the face with his fist," she acknowledged in a announced this Thursday.
After the beating, two officers intervened and the woman was taken to a nearby hospital.
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Garcia had no injuries and has since remained in the Orange County jail on the pending arrest warrant, according to police.
He has criminal charges for assaulting an Asian woman, charges for being under the influence of a restricted substance, for resisting arrest, and for assaulting an officer.
With information from NBC Los Angeles, CBS Los Angeles and Telemundo 52.