“I can’t breathe! I can’t breathe! I cannot breathe!” is how the YouTube amateur video ends, with 21-year-old Shalonica Michelle Patton of Compton yelling in handcuffs, facedown on the ground with a Long Beach Police officer kneeling on her back.

But according to the Press-Telegram’s Tracy Manzer, the Long Beach Police Department’s investigation of Patton’s July 11 arrest–on charges of making criminal threats, battery on a police officer, using offensive words/gestures in public, and causing a disturbance on public transit–is just starting.

“In the video posted by HoodNews, police officers are shown trying to pull Patton out of her seat on a bus near First Street and Long Beach Boulevard at about 9:40 p.m. on July 11,” Manzer writes.

The newspaper was unable to reach Patton for comment yesterday.

But according to the video’s YouTube description, “21 year old female flicks [sic] LBPD off from bus, pd pulls over bus, tackles woman, drags her off the bus and slams her face into concrete breaking 4 bones in her face.”

And what is HoodNews? Its website was down when I visited. According to its YouTube page, however, it’s the “preeminent resource for 21st century news without 21st century censorship. We convey the truth behind mainstream media’s facade to bring your voice to the pulpit.” HoodNews’ coverage of Patton’s arrest is attributed to Claudie Jones and Hassan Haze.

Now, Long Beach Police Sgt. Dina Zapalski tells the P-T that the police department’s Internal Affairs division is investigating Patton’s arrest.

“Deputy Police Chief Bill Blair said Thursday the LBPD takes all allegations of misconduct seriously and is conducting an internal investigation into the arrest, including a review of another video captured by the bus security system,” Manzer writes.

” ‘We’ll make a full version of the tape available as soon as our investigation is concluded,’ ” Blair told the P-T. As the amateur video shows, Patton’s arrest didn’t go as smoothly as it might have.

“Throughout the video, Patton and other passengers are shouting at police. At one point, the 21-year-old looks into the camera and screams that she can’t breathe and that police threw her face-down on the pavement,” Manzer writes, noting, “The segment between the time she is pulled from her seat and when she is lying on the sidewalk is not shown in the video.”

According to Zapalski, the bus’s security cameras filmed the whole incident, and police are reviewing that video as well.

As for Patton–who also had an outstanding traffic warrant–there’s no mention in the P-T of her suffering any broken bones. Long Beach police arrested and held her that night in lieu of $55,000 bail, then released her July 15.

Tags: California, Compton, Deputy Police Chief Bill Blair, HoodNews, Internal Affairs investigation, Long Beach, Long Beach Police Department, Long Beach Police Sgt. Dina Zapalski, press telegram, Shalonica Michelle Patton, Southern California, The District Weekly, Theo Douglas, Tracy Manzer, youtube