A Las Vegas police officer is being indicted on accusations that he roughed up a woman he arrested on suspicion of prostitution and other crimes.

The charges against Richard Scavone—based on footage taken from his body camera—allege (PDF) that the 49-year-old officer grabbed the woman around the neck with his hand and "threw her to the ground" after she was handcuffed. He is also accused of punching the woman in the forehead with an open palm. He "slammed her face onto the hood of his patrol vehicle" by grabbing the unidentified woman's hair on January 6, 2015, according to the indictment. Scavone is accused of obstruction and civil rights violations. The woman suffered bruises and cuts to her face.

The authorities said he lied about the incident in his police report by saying she was combative. The charges say that he "knowingly falsified a document with the intent to impede, obstruct, and influence an investigation." The defendant's attorney, Josh Tomsheck, said the former officer was innocent. His client's first appearance is set for January 20 in a Las Vegas federal courtroom.

The authorities did not release the body-cam footage. Charges against the woman were dropped.

Ars has been reporting on body cams for some time, and a recent Ars feature concluded that "even the staunchest privacy advocates, organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union, are generally in favor of more cameras." Honorable police officers want them to protect themselves in hairy encounters with citizens. And as has been proven time and time again, incidents like this show the technology can also be used to help citizens protect themselves from police.