A Colorado police officer was fired after he socked a handcuffed woman in the face after she spit on him, newly released body camera footage shows.
The shocking video shows former Loveland cop Russell Maranto, 28, holding the detained woman down as she repeatedly hurls curses and insults at officers inside a hospital they took her to after she was found wandering around in traffic on May 20.
The woman, identified by police as Angelia Hall, 58, yelled at Maranto for taking away a piece of paper she had been holding in her hands as she was evaluated by medical staff.
“F–cking authority, b–tch, f–cking asswipe, f–cking d–k. F–king even don’t touch me,” Hall screams at Maranto before turning to another officer and asking whether they “see how he instigates?”
Hall then purses her lips and spits squarely onto Maranto’s chest — the second time she spit in his direction while at the hospital.
Without hesitation, Maranto lifts his hand off Hall’s shoulder and punches her in the face.
“Oh, you f–king piece of s–t. See what he does?” Hall yells, becoming increasingly upset. “I want f–king video of that.”
“I have my hands back, I can’t even fight back against that rust … I can’t even save my life.”
The second officer, who identified himself in the video as Nicholas Hobbs, told Maranto to “chill” and pushed himself between the feuding pair.
Maranto was fired from the force three days later, police announced after ruling that the “officer responded with inappropriate use of force by striking the female in the face, causing minor injuries to her face.”
He allegedly tried to rationalize the assault by claiming he had been trying to push Hall’s face away when he delivered the blow, the video states.
Maranto had not even been an officer in the department for a full year at the time of the incident — he was hired in June of last year. He had also served in the Montrose Police Department and Wyoming Department of Corrections, Loveland officials said.
The Larimer County District Attorney’s office has not yet decided whether Maranto will face criminal charges.
Hall, who was covered by a spit guard for continuing to hawk in the direction of cops, was charged with third-degree assault and had been transported to jail that night.
