Story highlights Sapphire Williams was arrested in Rochester while giving an interview to a local news outlet.

The incident was caught on camera and quickly went viral.

She said incident made her feel "100 times more empowered."

(CNN) Sapphire Williams wasn't planning on participating in a protest, let alone getting arrested.

Williams, 22, was going out to drinks with friends in downtown Rochester, NY, last Friday night when she noticed a swarm of police at a Black Lives Matters protest.

"Seeing how there was a very small presence of protesters compared to the police, it evoked something in me to ask the officers a rhetorical question of what got us to this point," she said.

Williams, who recently graduated from Albany University, began speaking passionately to both the crowd and police officers -- and then, to news cameras. As she was giving an interview to TWC News Rochester, five heavily geared officers rushed into the shot and arrested her.

"I was completely taken aback by the onrush of officers and this very SWAT-like gear coming towards me out of nowhere," Williams told CNN. "I was extremely alarmed. I had no idea what they were going to do to me, if they were about to tackle me to the ground."

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