ALBANY - What would have been a routine traffic stop in the Mansion neighborhood ended with a city woman pulled from her car and arrested because she refused to comply with officers’ commands, Albany Police Chief Eric Hawkins said.

Hawkins defended his officers Tuesday amid questions of how police handled the traffic stop at Grand Street and Madison Avenue on Sunday night, a portion of which was captured on video and has been shared widely on Facebook.

Officers were doing regular patrols of the neighborhood when they saw a car parked in the middle of the road shortly after 9 p.m. Sunday, Hawkins said.

Smelling marijuana as they got closer, police asked Brianna Biddings, 26,of Albany to leave her vehicle so they could assess if she was driving under the influence of drugs, but she refused, the chief said.

“The officer advised her that she was under arrest. Even at that point, the driver refused to exit the vehicle, refused to comply with any of the commands of the officer,” he said. “The officers attempted to physically remove the driver from the vehicle in order to effect the arrest.”

The video posted by an Albany resident on Sunday shows one Albany officer trying to push the woman out of her car from the passenger side while two other officers try to pull her out of the driver's seat. One officer appears to hit the woman roughly eight times as she is removed, taken to the ground and handcuffed.

Hawkins said Biddings was clinging onto the steering wheel when the officer used his forearm to “strike” Biddings’ forearm multiple times to get her to release.

“The video clearly shows there were no punches used,” said the chief, who reviewed the body camera footage. “Those strikes were only administered to her right forearm in order to get her to release the steering wheel.”

Albany attorney Mark Mishler, representing Biddings, said they are exploring options.

“Ms. Biddings, her family, and I - along with many members of the public - are disturbed, angry, and concerned by the brutal actions of the Albany police on Sept. 1, some of which are depicted on the cell-phone video of the incident that has been made public,” Mishler said in an emailed statement Tuesday. “Ms. Biddings intends to seek justice and is grateful for the public support that has been expressed at this time."

Mishler declined to comment on the specifics of the incident, or say whether any legal action may be taken.

Ultimately, Biddings was charged with obstruction of governmental administration and resisting arrest and cited for parking her car in the road. Police searched her car, but did not find evidence of marijuana, officials said.

The nearly 15-minute cellphone footage picks up as officers took physical action with Biddings and doesn’t capture police trying for seven to eight minutes to get her to comply with police commands, Hawkins said.

“They almost pleaded with the woman to leave the vehicle,” he said. “The officers were taking all the necessary steps to deescalate the situation and they were using an incredible amount of restraint.”

Hawkins said police have increased their presence in the Mansion neighborhood to deal with quality-of-life issues, crime and intimidation expressed by area residents, Hawkins said.

“When these cellphone videos are recording incidents, they don’t get the full context and so people don’t know exactly why these officers were in that area,” he said. “They were in that area enforcing quality of life and traffic concerns simply because there was a demand from residents in that neighborhood.”

This incident comes just shy of a month from when the coordinator of the Albany Police Review Board, Clay Gustave, was accused of resisting arrest during a traffic stop at Western and Orlando avenues. Hawkins defended the officers’ handling of that arrest as well. In both instances, Hawkins has stressed that civilians should comply with officers’ orders and debate if they are appropriate later.

“If they receive a command from an officer, my advice is: comply with that command,” he said. “If the officer did not have a legal or lawful right to give those commands, then there is recourse for those people. There is an administrative review, civil penalties, even criminal penalties.”

The chief said he’ll hold his officers accountable when there are improprieties, as was demonstrated following the March 16 confrontation between police and residents of 523 First St.

In that incident, police were called to the home to break up a loud house party, but the incident turned violent and police were caught on body camera footage beating three black men. The charges against the men were later dropped and one of the officers involved, Luke Deer, was charged with felony assault and misdemeanor official misconduct.

The criminal case against Deer was sent to a grand jury. Deer and two other Albany cops remain suspended with pay while the incident is investigated. Deer waived a preliminary hearing in April, and the Albany County District Attorney's office has until October to present the case to a grand jury.