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Police Release Body Camera Video Of Confrontation With Pregnant Woman

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — Newly released police body camera video shows a tense exchange between Sacramento Police Department officers with guns drawn and a pregnant woman.

Police released their video after the woman filed an internal affairs complaint, alleging she was pushed to the ground by the officers.

One of the videos shows a body camera on an officer with his gun drawn shouting, "Hands, let me see your hands put your hands up!" Five seconds are all the time between that officer's commands and a physical exchange with pregnant mother Zityrua Abraham.

"My kid is in the house," Abraham says in the video. "Come one, wait a minute, my son is in there!"

That's the moment Abraham officers pushed her to the ground, she says.

In slow motion, the video shows Abraham's reflection in the window, her legs on the ground as she works to get back up.
But there is no clear video of how she ended up on the ground -- just an image of the officer pulling her from the doorway and directing her behind him.

Police say she fell as an officer removed her from her doorway.

"One of the officers actually grabbed the female by the arm, moved that female to the left, during that time she fell to the ground," Sgt. Bryce Heinlein said.

Back at the scene in front of her home, Abraham said she didn't fall but she was pulled down by a second officer.

"I got pushed back a certain percentage, and then someone grabbed me back more and I fell right here," Abraham said.

Ultimately, the man police were looking for was not inside Abraham's home. They had the wrong guy.

"It's a very unfortunate incident, and she has the right to be upset with what happened that day," Sgt. Heinlein said.

Abraham is OK and doctors say the baby, who is due in October, is healthy. Her 1-year-old, will not remember what happened. But his mother will.

And now police have released video of the dramatic exchange that will be hard for anyone to forget.

Abraham says she's considering filing a lawsuit against the police department but doesn't  have a lawyer.

Police are still conducting an internal investigation over how officers handled the incident.

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