Mom alleges excessive police force against daughter at Fresno fair. Officers investigating

Fresno police have opened an internal affairs investigation into allegations of excessive force involving a 14-year-old girl who was ejected from the Big Fresno Fair late Saturday night.

Nia Hodge, the girl’s mother, said she requested the investigation because a Fresno officer used excessive force against her daughter after accusing the girl of striking him as he ran to break up a fight near the fair food court. Hodge said her daughter reported that the officer in fact ran into her, then accused the girl of hitting him.

The incident occurred shortly before 10:50 p.m., according to Hodge, who said her daughter was not involved in the fight, and was walking with friends toward a roller coaster ride.

On her Facebook page, Hodge said the officer said, “Hey, why did you hit me?” before grabbing the girl’s neck and shoulder, applying pressure, “and another officer came and began to bend her arms the wrong way and said she was resisting the other officer.”

Hodge said that she wanted to view body cameras worn by officers involved in the incident and that police should provide a formal apology for what happened, identify officers involved, and compensate the family for physical and emotional abuse.

Fresno police response to fair incident

Fresno police spokesman Lt. Bill Dooley on Monday confirmed there was contact between the girl and the officer, and a control hold was used on the girl’s wrist as she was escorted from the fairgrounds.

He said investigators are looking at the body camera footage and will talk to other witnesses who might come forward to determine the facts.

He said release of the body camera footage would be up to Chief Paco Balderrama, after the investigation is completed.

Hodge, on her Facebook post, said her daughter is “terrified of police officers because of how she has had to witness the unjust lethal force that is used when it comes to black people.”

She said her daughter is a Roosevelt High School basketball player.

“The last thing she would do is hit a police officer,” Hodge said. “Emotionally, she is in distress” over the incident, she added.

“My daughter called me crying hysterically after she was assaulted by the officers. She told me that at that moment she thought they were going to break her arm and slam her on her face...when she was asking the officers, ‘Why are you grabbing me?’ He repeatedly replied, ‘You know why I am grabbing you,’ and put her outside of the fair.”

Additional allegations

Hodge said her daughter went back into the fairgrounds to retrieve jewelry lost in the altercation with the officer and find her friends. She said a police sergeant told her daughter that if police reviewed the video footage, she might face charges of striking the officer.

Hodge also alleged that officers also apprehended children who had no affiliation with the children fighting “and assaulted multiple black children.”

Dooley, the police spokesman, said that if there are other alleged incidents, “I hope they come forward.”

This story was originally published October 18, 2021 at 11:27 AM.