{"id":366228,"date":"2026-10-06T21:10:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T21:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/366228\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T21:10:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T21:10:12","slug":"arizona-state-cheerleader-in-viral-video-claims-cop-groped-her-but-union-chief-suspects-shes-angling-for-payday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/366228\/","title":{"rendered":"Arizona State cheerleader in viral video claims cop ‘groped’ her, but union chief suspects she’s angling for ‘payday’"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Arizona college cheerleader in a viral arrest video<\/a> says an officer allegedly \u201cgroped\u201d her after apparently slamming her to the ground and punching her \u2014 but a police union leader claims she could be angling for a \u201cpayday.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arizona State University senior Eryn Bonner was hit with two misdemeanor charges last week in Tempe after a video captured an officer allegedly tackling and punching her during an arrest in July.<\/p>\n

Bonner\u2019s attorney claimed the charges \u2014 filed two months after the incident \u2014 are meant to shift the blame in an open-and-shut police brutality case.<\/p>\n

Arizona State University senior and cheerleader Eryn Kelise Bonner claimed a police officer \u201cgroped\u201d her after slamming her to a ground during an arrest in July. Tempe Police Department<\/p>\n

Body camera footage appears to show the police officer\u2019s hand on Bonner\u2019s rear. Tempe Police Department<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re trying to protect themselves from civil liability by bringing charges two months later,\u201d attorney Benjamin Taylor told The Post \u2014 claiming video shows an officer putting \u201chis pelvis on top of her butt\u201d and groping her rear.<\/p>\n

He said a lawsuit is on the table if 21-year-old Bonner can\u2019t get justice.<\/p>\n

But a Tempe police sergeant claims Bonner struck the officer multiple times in the face before he threw the punch and even tried to level felony aggravated assault charges before settling for the misdemeanors.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe punches him five times in the face. He strikes her one time, trying to de-escalate a chaotic scene in the middle of a roadway \u2026 I don\u2019t know how they could have done it any better,\u201d Sgt. Rob Ferraro, who is also president of the Tempe Officers Association, told The Post. Ferraro was not involved in the incident and does not speak on the department\u2019s behalf.<\/p>\n

A Tempe police officer after subduing Eryn Bonner on July 19, 2026 Facebook \/ Quinn Gamino<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is absolutely imperative that we as a society scrutinize law enforcement \u2026 [but] sometimes there are actors that will want to capitalize on something, or use it as a payday, or not accept responsibility,\u201d he argued.<\/p>\n

Both sides pointed to multiple videos of the chaotic scene, in which cops rushed to break up a brawl in Tempe\u2019s bar district.<\/p>\n

A viral video posted to social media<\/a> shows an officer apparently shoving Bonner to the ground, tackling her as she gets up and hitting her as she struggles on the ground.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bruises seen on Bonner\u2019s face after the incident.<\/p>\n

Bonner is a cheerleader at Arizona State University. Courtesy of Benajmin Taylor<\/p>\n

But another angle of the fracas \u2014 captured on a security camera<\/a> \u2014 seems to show Bonner swinging at the officer\u2019s face multiple times before he hits back.<\/p>\n

Yet another angle, from an officer\u2019s body-worn camera, seems to show him appearing to touch her butt.<\/p>\n

Ferraro dismissed the groping claim, arguing officers used exactly the right amount of force to break up the dangerous, chaotic situation.<\/p>\n

A Tempe police officer appears to shove Eryn Bonner in a viral video. Facebook \/ Quinn Gamino<\/p>\n

A Tempe police sergeant claims Bonner struck the officer multiple times. Tempe Police Department<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way we de-escalate is to detain everybody, everybody goes in handcuffs, then we see what happened. \u2026 Unfortunately, Ms. Bonner felt the need to litigate or break up what was occurring in the roadway,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the footage raises understandable concerns, it does not provide the full context of the events leading up to the use of force,\u201d said the Tempe Police Department in a statement.<\/p>\n

But the officer should have at least tried to de-escalate things verbally, argued Taylor \u2014 instead of going straight for the shove. <\/p>\n

Bonner was charged with two misdemeanors after the July incident. Tempe Police Department<\/p>\n

\u201cFor a man to use this much force, he\u2019s just abusing his power. He\u2019s twice her size,\u201d the attorney said.<\/p>\n

As for Bonner allegedly striking the cop \u2014 she wasn\u2019t punching, she was \u201cflailing,\u201d he argued. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf he didn\u2019t push her, she wouldn\u2019t be flailing on her back,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

County Attorney Rachel Mitchell\u00a0declined the police department\u2019s request for felony assault charges \u2014 which Taylor sees as an admission of Bonner\u2019s innocence.<\/p>\n

Bonner\u2019s attorney said police only charged her to \u201cprotect themselves from civil liability.\u201d<\/p>\n

Police only decided to pursue misdemeanor charges in city court as a \u201cpolitical prosecution\u201d to \u201ccover up for their police officers\u2019 use of excessive force,\u201d Taylor claimed to The Post.<\/p>\n

However, the police department noted that misdemeanor charges were also filed with the city in July and were dismissed after the felony charges fell through \u2014 but \u201cwith the express intent to refile them,\u201d Tempe PD spokesperson Heather Lerman told The Post on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe decision to file charges was not made in response to outside influences or to any allegations regarding groping,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

For Ferraro, the two-month saga is an effort to \u201cfictionalize\u201d the situation with a single, viral clip that doesn\u2019t show the whole story.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is absolutely imperative that we as a society scrutinize law enforcement \u2026 but there also needs to be an understand that sometimes there are actors that will want to capitalize on something, or use it as a payday, or not accept responsibility,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey must be watching a different video than the whole public watched,\u201d Taylor countered.<\/p>\n

Bonner has pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and hindering or interfering with police.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Arizona college cheerleader in a viral arrest video says an officer allegedly \u201cgroped\u201d her after apparently slamming…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":366229,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1458,303,8041,9,11,10,49,51,50,58],"class_list":["post-366228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-arizona","tag-crime","tag-law-enforcement","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=366228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366228\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/366229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}