A woman is behind bars after police say she struck an officer who was breaking up a fight involving her boyfriend at Dolphin Mall in Sweetwater early Friday.
Natalie Molinero, 22, was arrested on charges including disorderly conduct, battery of a police officer and resisting an officer, an arrest report said.
According to the report, the officer had responded around 12:30 a.m. to a report of a fight near the main stage of the mall’s concert venue, Vivo.
The officer arrived and found two men throwing punches and wrestling on the ground and tried to take them both into custody.
That’s when Molinero approached and tried to stop the officer from taking one of the men into custody, but the officer pushed her back and told her to stay back, the report said.
Molinero then struck the officer in the face, the report said.
“With the assistance of an off-duty federal law enforcement officer, the defendant was redirected to the ground and taken into custody without further incident,” the report said.
The officer turned their attention back to the two men and took Molinero’s boyfriend into custody, while the other man fled the scene.
Police determined the boyfriend was the victim and had been jumped by the other man and was defending himself, so he was released from custody, the report said.
Molinero was booked into jail and expected to appear in bond court. Attorney information wasn’t available.