'I can't breathe'

Cell phone footage showing a police officer punching and putting a 15-year-old girl in a choke-hold in Mesa, Arizona, has gone viral about being posted online.

Luis Paul Santiago, who recorded the incident as he was driving past, posted the footage on Facebook on Friday and it has since been shared more than 1.8 million times.

Along with the 70 second clip, Santiago posted an explanation that the girl was an 'emotionally unstable' runaway.

The footage starts with the teen screaming as the officer hits her twice around the head.

Quickly the girl is put in a choke-hold and can be heard yelling 'I can't breathe', as another cop appears.

A woman, who identifies herself as the victim's mother, then begs with the cops to let her daughter go.

The Free Thought Project, which linked to the video, says the girl's mother 'attempted to explain to the officers that she has mental problems as well as asthma.'

According to Santiago, the police tried to delete his video but were unsuccessful.

On his Facebook he writes that the second officer said that his partner had done everything according to police procedure and that if she had wanted to she 'could have shot her dead.'

(dailymail.com)

ANN.Az