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Hartford Police release body camera video of Blue Hills Avenue incident

Videos have been circulating on social media showing Hartford police arresting a woman after they claimed her car was stolen.

HARTFORD, Conn — Editor's note: The videos contain graphic language. Viewer discretion is advised. 

Hartford police released body camera video Monday, showing the arrest of a woman in a car police said was reported stolen. The release came just hours after the incident, in response to video of the arrest circulating on social media.

The incident took place in front of a store on Blue Hills Avenue.

Watch the Police body camera video below: 

Other angles of the incident were posted on Facebook and Instagram.

The Hartford Police Department released its own body camera video and a statement regarding the incident.

 "The use of force in this incident will be reviewed by the Police Department, as is every use of force," a statement from the department said.

Hartford police said the initial motor-vehicle stop occurred because the car was listed on a "sheet of wanted vehicles." The body camera video shows police telling the woman that her car is listed as stolen, but she says the car is not stolen and registered in her name.

In a release Monday afternoon, police said the vehicle was wanted "specifically for involvement in a shots-fired incident in an neighboring community." The sheet also lists "many vehicles that are reported stolen," police said in the release.

At one point the woman got back into her car and the vehicle goes into reverse. The car is approached by four officers and the woman is handcuffed on the ground by several officers.

When the woman is on the ground, she is heard saying "I can't breathe."

A man and a child were also in the vehicle at the beginning of the stop.

"During the commotion," police said, "the male passenger took the child and left." Police said the male passenger is the suspect in the shots-fired incident.

A male passenger in the car took the child. The woman told officers her child was in the car before she was removed from it. Police say the man is a suspect in the aforementioned shots fired incident. Police did not release the suspect's name.

Police said the woman was taken to the hospital but was not injured. She was charged with interfering with police and reckless endangerment.

While officers did restrain the woman, police also said they did not use pepper spray or weapons. Officers did physically restrain the suspect. 

On some videos posted to social media "it appears an officer has his knee on the woman," police said, "however, based on an initial review of the video, he does not." Police said the officer in question had his knee "hovering" over the woman's head before moving it.

“Any use of force, even without the use of a weapon, is a serious matter and this incident will be reviewed by the Police Department — as all uses of force are," Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin told FOX61 in a statement.

"This was a volatile situation involving a car that had been used in a shots fired incident, and we now know the passenger, who was able to leave the scene in the commotion, is a suspect in that shots fired incident, Bronin said. "Thankfully no one was hurt."

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