Officers Won't Be Charged In Case Of New Jersey Beach Arrest, Beating Of Woman

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WILDWOOD (CBSMiami) – A New Jersey police officer will not face charges for punching a woman in the head during a controversial arrest caught on video.

Widely-shared cellphone footage shows one officer pinning down 20-year-old Emily Weinman as another hits her several times.

The Cape May County prosecutor's office says the actions of the officer do not warrant criminal charges.

Weinman faces several charges, including assault.

She's now speaking publicly about the incident.

"In my eyes, I'm not a criminal," she says. "I'm not a bad person."

Weinman stands by her actions Memorial Day weekend, after Wildwood, New Jersey police officers attempted to cite her for possessing alcohol at the beach.

She says that she had not been drinking before officers approached her and that while she had alcohol containers around her, "they were sealed."

The 20-year old Philadelphia woman willingly took two breathalyzer tests. Both came back negative.

"I stayed calm," she said. "A little attitude. Just a little. I didn't see a big issue."

"I ask them, 'Do you guys have anything better to do? There's so much stuff going on and you're trying to stop people for underage drinking and you see I didn't drink.' He was like, 'That's it. I was going to let you go, but now I'm going to write you up,'" she explained.

Stephen Dicht is Weinman's attorney.

"He hadn't told her that she had committed any crime," Dicht said. "He hadn't told her I'm going to issue you a summons. He hadn't told her any of those things. And then he says, 'you're about to get dropped.'"

Moments after saying that, the officer's body camera shows him on top of Weinman.

He then appears to hit her, repeatedly. A bystander also caught the moment on their cell phone.

The officer can later be heard on the body camera explaining his use of force.

Police are saying she resisted. Why would she do that?

"It's impossible to answer that question," she said. "Because it's all happening in the moment."

Weinman is also charged with spitting on the officer.

"I got sand in my mouth," she said. "So when they smashed my head into the ground, I had all this sand in my mouth. When they got me on my stomach, I turned around to go spit it all out."

She wasn't happy when hearing that the officers would not be charged.

"They think that because they are cops they can get away with it," she said. "And that's not the case. That's not right at all."

As for whether she owes the officers an apology, she had this to say.

"Honestly, no I don't. I'm very sorry that the situation happened, but I don't owe them an apology at all," she said.