'Cut my hair': A woman struggles with an officer in a video of a violent arrest

Hope Schreiber
·Writer

Videos of an arrest that took place in Arcata, Calif., are going viral due to the violent nature of both the suspect and the officers’ response.

The Humboldt State University police pulled over a vehicle after a woman in it was standing up through the sunroof. While they questioned the passenger, the confrontation began.

Officer Janelle Jackson can be seen asking for the 20-year-old’s last name. She said, “When I asked your last name, then you should have told me ‘Alonso Luna.’”

“That is my last name. Alonso Luna is my last name,” Alonso Luna, whose first name is Samantha, responded.

When asked to get out of the car, Alonso Luna refused. Jackson then attempted to pull her out of the vehicle.

At some point, it appeared that both the woman and the officer had hold of each other’s hair. However, the woman refused to let go.

After a lengthy struggle, Jackson asked another officer to cut her hair to release her from Alonso Luna’s grip. She can be heard saying, “Cut my hair. Seriously, cut my hair. Cut my hair. I don’t care.”

One of Alonso Luna’s friends can be heard from off camera saying, “Sam, stop resisting,” as more officers arrived on the scene, one of whom cut Jackson’s hair to free her.

The case is still under investigation. Donn Peterson, the Humboldt State University police chief, said, “When they conducted a traffic stop, based upon that, it did appear that several of the occupants of the vehicle were intoxicated and underage.

“Beyond that, we’re still investigating this, and I really don’t want to say too much more. Obviously, there’s been a lot of social media attention. I’m aware of that. I’ve watched the videos. There’s other videos that I’ve watched as well, not the ones that were released on social media. And so, you know my part here is to do a fair and objective analysis of everything that occurred.”

Peterson said that another video, which was not shared on social media, has footage of what happened before this incident, but he is not ready to release that video.

Alonso Luna shared the videos on her Facebook page and claims that she was not intoxicated. According to Alonso Luna, her friend was arrested, and she was asking for information on where she was being sent and the process of how to bail her out when the officer reacted.

Samantha Alonso Luna was charged with resisting arrest, battery on a peace officer, public intoxication, and providing false identification to a police officer.

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