Arizona police officer punches woman in the face during arrest

Arizona police say an officer is being investigated after video surfaced that shows him punching a woman in the face during an arrest.

Flagstaff police say in a news release that Officer Jeff Bonar has been placed on leave pending the probe.

Flagstaff Police Chief Kevin Treadway says the Bonar reports the woman kicked him and kneed him in the groin before he hit her.

Police say the incident occurred Wednesday as police arrested a “somewhat unco-operative” woman.

Video apparently shot by an onlooker and posted on Facebook shows her struggling with two officers.

At one point one of men punches her in the mouth area. She is eventually placed in a squad car.

WATCH:“It’s hurtful, it’s embarrassing, it’s the people who are supposed to protect us, and they did not protect us. They ended up hurting me.” Marissa Morris, the woman punched in the face by an officer during an arrest by Flagstaff, AZ Police discusses her ordeal.

0:30 ‘It’s hurtful, it’s embarrassing’: Arizona woman reacts to being punched by police officer

Treadway also says Bonar was detaining the woman because he knew about warrants for Marissa Morris’ arrest. Treadway says police have determined the warrants were no longer active.

Treadway says he learned about the incident after a police department employee saw a Facebook video of the incident taken by a bystander.

The video, taken from the a home where Morris and her boyfriend were being evicted, shows Bonar striking Morris, but they are behind a railing and visible only from about the waist up.

Treadway says his department is conducting an internal affairs investigation and asking the Northern Arizona University Police Department to conduct a criminal investigation.

WATCH: Police in Flagstaff, Arizona say they’ve opened an investigation into a video that appears to show a woman being punched in the face during an arrest. Officer Jeff Bonar has been placed on administrative leave by the Flagstaff Police Department.

0:44 Police say they’ve opened an investigation over a video of an officer appearing to punch a woman in the face during an arrest