LOS ANGELES – A Los Angeles police officer has been charged with assault for allegedly repeatedly kicking a woman in the groin during an arrest in which the woman ultimately died.
Defense attorney Robert Pico says his client, 18-year-veteran Officer Mary O'Callaghan, was charged Thursday with one felony count of assault under color of authority.
A Police Commission review of the 2012 incident concluded O'Callaghan used unreasonable force on 35-year-old Alesia Thomas, who was restrained and in the backseat of a cruiser.
O'Callaghan was relieved of duty pending the outcome of a disciplinary hearing.
Police say Thomas was being arrested after abandoning her two children at a police station at 2 a.m. because she was a drug addict and couldn't care for them.
Pico says O'Callaghan has never had a sustained complaint.
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