The video, which was posted by 41-year-old driver Antony Page on Facebook last week, was recorded in February in Taos, New Mexico, and has already racked up more than 1,000 views.
According to 29-year-old Angela Fisher-Herrera, who was in the passenger seat of the car and behind the camera, a New Mexico State trooper, who identified himself as Officer Cabana, stopped the couple for a seat belt violation.
Cabana can be heard asking Page to "open [his] window," which is rolled down a few inches. When Page doesn't roll down his driver-side window further, the officer shatters it with his bare hands. The officer, along with two other state police officers, then opens the car door and pulls Page to the ground.
In the clip, Fisher-Herrera can be heard yelling "don't break his arm" as the officer twists Page's arm.
"Do not break his arm," she repeats. "Do not hurt him."
"You're under goddamn arrest!" a police officer shouts as Page is pulled to the ground.
An officer then demands that Fisher-Herrera exit the vehicle before the video cuts off.
According to a Saturday report by Raw Story, Fisher-Herrera called 911 and requested another officer at some point during the incident.
"Here are some of the important bits of information," Page wrote in the caption of the Facebook video.
"We were pulled over and accused of not wearing seatbelts. (We were wearing our seatbelts and dashcam footage proves it). We were arrested for resisting arrest. Our cases were dismissed, but the arresting officer refiled charges for this arrest. The court did not contact via the mailing address we gave directly to the judge, so we never received notice we had refiled charges. Thus, we missed the court date, so naturally, we have warrants for our arrest for failure to appear," the caption adds.
The two were arrested after the incident on charges of not wearing their seat belts, resisting or obstructing a police officer, concealing identity and making a false 911 call.
However, New Mexico State Police told the Albuquerque Journal last week that the video released on Facebook doesn't show the earlier alteration that occurred between police and the driver, during which the driver refused to roll down his window.
"I'm standing by my officers," New Mexico State Police Chief Pete Kassetas told the Journal.
"At some point after a certain amount of time of noncompliance, something has to happen."
"We didn't break the window and drag him out of the car because he didn't have a seat belt on," the police chief continued. "He got removed from the vehicle forcefully because he didn't comply."
In an interview with the Journal last week, Page said that he and Fisher-Herrera were "polite" to the officer.
"At that point we were very concerned — he's not acting like a cop," Page said. "He could've been calmer."
