Shocking moment sheriff’s deputy violently body slams teen girl, 16, to the floor after cops are called to a brawl in a high school car park

A 16-year-old California girl is recovering in a trauma unit after suffering spinal injuries when a deputy knocked her to the ground during a brawl outside a high school football game Friday evening.

According to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, authorities responded to Victor Valley High School around 6:30 p.m. after receiving a report of a large-scale altercation between students.

Cell phone video shows the deputy picking up the girl and slamming her hard onto the sidewalk. A teenage boy then gets involved and confronts the officer.

Authorities say they felt threatened by the crowd and fired pepper balls at the group in an attempt to disperse them.

When another group of officers arrived on the scene, police allege 16-year-old Faith Jeffers tried to grab a pepper ball launcher, prompting the blow.

The boy, Anthony Smiler, 16, is accused of punching a deputy in the face. He was later taken into custody while Jeffers was rushed to a local hospital with traumatic injuries to her head and spine.

“He picked up my daughter and just threw her away. He just threw her to the ground with no remorse,” said Priscilla Jeffers, the girl’s mother KTL in a tearful interview.

“She has a back injury from him throwing her forcefully onto the tarmac, she has a broken shoulder and her whole head has bumps and bruises,” she added.

Her mother believes a girl from another school who had been bullying her daughter showed up at Friday’s game and started the altercation.

Priscilla was at the game and didn’t realize it was her daughter who was involved in the brawl that broke out just before the end of Victor Valley’s 22-14 win over Big Bear.

“It looked like he was just throwing a rag or sweater on the floor until my other daughter said, ‘Mom, that’s Faith!’ I couldn’t believe it…I can’t believe I let my daughter go to a soccer game and something like this would happen,” Priscilla said.

“We are citizens, we are taxpayers and they must protect us. Our children were not hurt at all. I think it’s wrong that they did that.’

In a separate interview with ABC Los Angeles, Priscilla said that when she first saw her daughter lying on the floor, she thought she was dead.

“I stopped and I saw my daughter lying on the ground and at that moment I didn’t know if she was dead or what was happening to her,” she said.

Now the mother says she’s planning legal action, but the sheriff’s office insists their deputy was the real victim in the whole case, according to a news release.

The news release accuses the teens of “moving forward toward the deputy” prior to the impact.

“When additional deputies arrived, another pepper ball shot was deployed on the subjects and a 16-year-old female retrieved the pepper ball launcher. A deputy pulled the female away, causing her to fall to the ground,” the release reads.

Meanwhile, Smiler’s mother maintained her son’s innocence in an interview with KTLA.

‘He attacked my son first. He was wrong and used aggressive force against a 16 year old. When I called they told me they couldn’t tell me if he was booked there or not so I need to know where my son is,” Kelani Lynch said. Her son was taken to High Desert Juvenile Hall while prosecutors filed charges.

Lynch later told ABC Los Angeles that authorities never informed her that her son had been booked, even though he was a minor.

When a Victor Valley Daily Press reporter asked a deputy at the game if everything was okay, the deputy replied, “Everything is okay.” They’re just kids being kids.”

On Sunday, angry locals protested outside the Victorville police station against the incident.

At the protest, Priscilla said CBS Los Angeles that her daughter is ‘confused’ after Friday evening.

‘He attacked my daughter from behind. She is 16 years old. He was a grown man and he attacked my daughter. Now my daughter has scars, now she is confused and I don’t know how long this will keep her confused,” she said.

The protest was led by Edin Alex Enamorado, who lives out of Los Angeles and regularly leads protests throughout California.

During the protest, Enamorado said his girlfriend was one of four protesters arrested, the newspaper reported Victor Valley Daily Press.

A video on Enamorado’s YouTube shows protesters attacking the Hyundai driver who had tried to confront the group.

“A vehicle came out of the car wash and they tried to run over protesters. There was a man who opened the door, hit a woman and then laid hands on my girlfriend. She defended herself and they arrested her. They also unlawfully arrested three other people,” he told the newspaper.

Speaking about the body slam, Enamorado called it a “death sentence” for the teen.

‘She could have easily died. We still don’t know the long-term effects,” he added.

Enamorado also said his group plans to protest at the next school district meeting and file a public records request to find out the officer’s name.