A group of Alabama police officers are under investigation after they handcuffed a woman and left her on the floor after she refused to let them search her purse.

Brenda Rivers and her husband had just begun to shop at a Walmart in Homewood when officers came up to her and said they were investigating a wallet theft.

The officers then detained her, claiming Rivers tried to leave the scene after she told them they could not search her purse.

Shopper Jasmine Thomas was among the crowd of witnesses shouting their support to Rivers, 59, as she lay handcuffed on the floor for nearly 30 minutes.

The witnesses in the crowd repeatedly told the officers on the scene that the woman whose wallet was stolen had already said Rivers did not look like the suspect.

These officers are being investigated after they handcuffed Brenda Rivers, 59, at a Walmart because they believed she looked like a theft suspect and claimed she wouldn't cooperate

Thomas filmed the chaotic scene on her cell phone, as both Rivers and her husband proclaimed her innocence while the crowd of people backed them up.

‘Me and my wife came into the store to buy some medicine and get some orange juice,' Rivers' husband tells the officers in the beginning of the video.

‘You had no right to come in here and stop us and bother us. My wife has not done anything wrong man.’

Officers first arrived at the Walmart around 8pm after a woman reported that her wallet had been stolen while she was shopping with her young daughter.

The woman told police that her purse had been taken from her shopping cart while she was in the children's department, according to AL.com.

The officers first stopped one woman, who consented to the search of her purse.

When they did not find the victim's wallet inside the officers approached Rivers.

Homewood police spokesman Sgt. John Carr said one of the officers told Rivers he was investigating a theft and needed her to stay there so the victim could identity whether or not she was the woman who had stolen her wallet.

But, in the video, the crowd of people repeatedly tell the officers - who have since handcuffed Rivers - that the victim already said she was not the thief.

'The lady was here, she told the officer right here that it wasn't her,' said one witness, who happened to be the first woman to get her purse searched.

'She said it wasn't me,' Rivers yells from the floor. 'She said it wasn't me!'

‘The witness told him before they arrested her that it wasn’t her, I will go to court for her,’ one of the people in the crowd says.

‘She said it wasn’t me,’ Rivers once again yells among the chaos of screams and talking amongst the crowd.

‘You’re being arrested for failure to comply,’ one of the officers then tells her.

‘Detain her for what?’ the first woman who was searched says again. ‘Comply to what?’ others in the crowd scream at the officers.

‘You’re arresting me because I’m black,’ Rivers exclaims. ‘That’s exactly what it is,’ one of the witnesses agrees.

The witnesses in the crowd repeatedly told the officers on the scene that the woman whose wallet was stolen had already said Rivers did not look like the suspect

At one point the woman whose wallet was stolen comes up and tells the sergeant that she had already told the other officers that Rivers did not look like the suspect

‘We had just walked into the store, we stole nothing from nobody,’ Rivers’ husband tells the crowd.

‘You’re going to be arrested for interfering with a police investigation,’ the officer then tells the crowd as he tries to get them to disperse.

‘Every black woman in a black jacket is guilty,’ Rivers says, referring to the fact the officers told her they were looking for a woman in a black leather-looking jacket.

‘You wrong and you know you’re wrong,’ the other woman who was searched, also a black woman wearing a black jacket, tells the police.

‘Your officer walked over to the victim and asked her, before you even apprehended [Rivers], and she said no. That is wrong, oh my God, that is wrong.’

‘This woman has never been in jail a day in her life,’ Rivers' husband yells as he continues to defend her. ‘We are outstanding citizens, we do not do things like this.’

‘Calm down, we don’t want you to get shot up in here for no reason,’ one of the witnesses warns her husband.

The officers then try to pull Rivers after she refuses to get up.

'You're hurting my arm,' she tells them. 'Let me go, I am a human being.'

‘He went through her first purse?' she then asks the officers after speaking to the first woman who was searched.

'So you gonna stop ever black woman in a black jacket in the store?’

An officer who appears to be a sergeant arrives on the scene and begins talking to Rivers and finally the victim comes up.

'I did tell them, its not her,' she tells the sergeant, who replies, 'I understand, I understand.'

‘What makes an officer come up and accuse somebody?' Rivers' husband then asks.

‘No evidence, no proof. He wanted to go through her purse without a search warrant or anything. Our rights are being infringed,' he continues.

'[The officer] didn’t ask for no ID, he didn’t ask for nothing, he just assumed she was the one that took the lady’s purse. We didn’t know what he was talking about. I thought he was joking.’

Rivers then tells the sergeant that she was never told she was being arrested for 'not complying'.

The officers had already searched the purse of another woman (right) who defended Rivers as she laid on the floor and reminded the officers that the theft victim did not believe it was her

'He said I was being investigated...that I was a suspect,' she continues.

Rivers is finally taken of the handcuffs towards the end of the video, which ends with an officer returning her purse.

The clip has since been viewed more than 220,000 times it less than 24 hours after Thomas posted in on Facebook.

'I had to record it because it's time for something to be done about the mistreatment from police,' Thomas said. 'I felt very emotional watching this go on.'

'This is unacceptable and the officer violated her rights. It's very sad that we have to endure things like this or even witness it.'

'I really hope this open everyone eyes and make them aware of what's really going on now.'

Monica Rivers said her mother is 'traumatized' from the experience.

'She's in a lot of pain,' Monica added. 'That was excessive force.'

Carr claims the department 'didn't use force' against Rivers, but said he could 'understand' why people were upset and concerned over the video.

Internal Affairs is investigating whether the officers' who handcuffed Rivers had failed to comply with departmental policy.

The officers involved in the incident remain on duty.

Homewood police Lt. Eric Hampton apologized to Rivers and her family for the incident during a press conference on Friday, as well as the shoppers at Walmart who witnessed the scene.

Hampton added that the policemen involved were 'good officers who want to do a good job'.

'We would like to ensure and foster trust, and also mutual respect, between the community, the Rivers family and our agency,' he added.

Hampton said the department will also be reviewing its policies and procedures and may consider retraining.