Viral arrest sparks outrage and questions about community policing at Nickerson Gardens

Just before 11 p.m. on a recent Friday, ChaSharee Hunter saw several Los Angeles Police Department squad cars rolling into Nickerson Gardens.

She watched as officers jumped from their cruisers and began chasing a teenage boy around a courtyard where Hunter and her friends were hanging out.

But her mild amusement at seeing the youngster outrun the authorities turned to anger when police detained a bystander who they claimed "bumped" into an officer, Hunter said. A crowd soon gathered around the officers, shouting profanities and insults.

Tempers got even hotter when police tried to yank the youth down by his leg from a tall iron picket fence he had climbed to escape, according to Hunter and witnesses' cellphone videos.

By then, more police swarmed the area.

As the chaotic scene dragged on, Hunter leaned over to record an officer's name tag with her cellphone. The next thing she knew, an officer grabbed her by the arm and began "repeatedly socking me in my face," she recalled during an interview with The Times.

Footage of Hunter's violent arrest soon spread on South L.A. social media, on which