SHARE

By of the

An 18-year-old woman's arrest Tuesday at a Madison mall prompted criticism from family and community members, who say the officers' actions were excessive.

The woman faces potential criminal charges after pointing a knife at a Taco Bell employee and resisting officers in what she said was an attempt to retrieve a stolen cellphone Tuesday evening, according to a police report.

Madison Police Chief Mike Koval has ordered an internal review of police conduct after the 18-year-old's arrest, The Cap Times reported. Koval, along with city aldermen, Rep. Chris Taylor (D-Madison) and Dane County Boys & Girls Club CEO Michael Johnson, met with the woman's family after the incident.

Security officers at East Towne Mall called police about 5:15 p.m. Tuesday after they said the woman made threats to kill them. A knife was later recovered at the scene.

The woman spit in one officer's eyes and kicked and scratched police until they subdued her with a stun gun, the police report said. Two officers were taken to the hospital for injuries and later released.

The incident, caught on video and posted to Facebook, sparked a protest Tuesday night at the city's Public Safety Building.

The video has been removed from Facebook, but a longer version on YouTube shows an officer using his knees to bring the woman to the ground after asking her several times to put her arms behind her back. On the ground, she can be heard telling officers "I can't breathe." She also is heard threatening to bite the officers.