Two Tuscaloosa police officers have been taken off the streets following a Friday arrest that was caught on video by bystanders.

Tuscaloosa Police Chief Steve Anderson said that video – which showed the officers struggling with a hit-and-run suspect before one of them struck her with a police baton – initially appeared to be within the department’s use of force training and policy but a closer look at other footage left him angry.

“I had a serious problem with the comments they were making. We don’t teach our officers that,’’ Anderson said. “For me that caused a lot of anger, a lot of frustration, I was disappointed in the officers, I was disgusted by what I saw, what I heard, and I was embarrassed by it.

The ordeal began Friday at 6:40 p.m. on Old Plantation Road where there was a hit-and-run accident. A citizen followed the suspect – who has now been identified as 22-year-old Jhasmynn Sheppard – and alerted police. Twenty-five minutes after the accidents, an officer spotted the suspect in the 1700 block of McFarland Boulevard and conducted a traffic stop.

Jhasmynn Sheppard

The officer – identified by the chief only as Officer Ward – asked Sheppard for her identification paperwork but then immediately ordered her out of vehicle and began to try to handcuff her. Body camera footage released by Anderson Wednesday showed Sheppard immediately began to resist.

Ward and Sheppard fell to the ground, and Ward’s body camera fell off. A second officer – identified by Anderson as Officer Lackey – responded to help his co-worker. During the struggle, Ward reported that the woman had grabbed him by his testicles and indicated that she was trying to bite him. At one point, he pulled his baton and struck her once.

Anderson said he found the language and threats to the suspect offensive and unnecessary. Ward called the suspect a “dumb bitch” and said, “If you bite me, you’re going to lose every one of your (expletive) teeth.” The body cam video also reveals he said, “You’re lucky that I didn’t put my gun in the back of your noggin and make you obey.”

There were multiple instances of foul language, yelling and threats. One of the officers also examined his sunglasses and told Sheppard if they were damaged, he was going to add a criminal charge for that as well.

“I was very disappointed,’’ Anderson said. “The attitude, the language…there’s no place for it, no need for it.”

Sheppard was booked into the Tuscaloosa County Jail on charges second-degree assault, resisting arrest and disarming law enforcement. Two of the charges are felonies, and one a misdemeanor. She was released from the jail two days later – on Sunday, April 21.

Anderson on Wednesday said authorities are working to dismiss the charges against Sheppard.

Ward and Lackey have been reassigned to administrative duty pending the ongoing investigation. They will go before a disciplinary board at which point the chief can accept, increase or decrease the recommendation for punishment. Whatever he decides will then be sent to the city attorney for review and the officers will then have a disciplinary hearing.

Both officers joined the department in 2017. Asked if they were remorseful, Anderson replied, “I think so. I think they are remorseful.”

“It does not reflect on the other men and women out here that go out every day and work hard to make this community safe and to build strong relationships with our community,’’ Anderson said. “Incidents like this can tear down all our efforts and that’s a problem for me. Now we have to start the process over of gaining the public trust back and that’s what we will be working towards.”