Former Daytona Beach officers turned off body camera during violent arrest

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — A former Daytona Beach police officer is accused of crossing the line during a violent arrest.

An internal affairs investigation revealed former officer Justin Ranum turned off his body camera while the incident happened under the Seabreeze Bridge.

"Keep biting my fingers, you're going to be charged with a felony," officer Matthew Booth is heard saying on part of the video that was captured.

Booth and Ranum were investigating Christine Chippewa and said they believed she was trying to conceal drugs by swallowing them.

"Spit it out, spit it out! Stop biting," the officers said.

The men are no long working for the Daytona Beach Police Department.

"You have a bad arrest, you have excessive force, you have a camera that goes blank," Chief Michael Chitwood said.

According to Chitwood, Ranum manually shut off his body camera before the officers went after Chippewa. Officer Booth is accused of shoving a flashlight and his hands in her mouth and kicking her in the head. The camera was turned back on afterwards.

"Yeah, I kicked you in the head when you bit my finger," Booth said.

Chitwood said both officers violated department policies.

"She gets her teeth knocked out of her mouth," Chitwood said.

Ranum claimed his body camera malfunctioned, but he resigned shortly after the incident. Booth was later fired from the agency.

Charges were dropped against Chippewa and she was given a $25,000 settlement from the city, which would have been enough to buy 25 more body cameras.

WFTV