As other officers looked on, a cop handcuffed a misbehaving 17-year-old girl and allowed her mother to hit her with a belt, the chief of the Clayton County Police Department said.

Chief Mike Register told Channel 2 Action News 911 got an unruly child call Thursday.

The mother reported to arriving officers the child had been disobedient, had used profanity toward her and wasn’t following the rules.

At some point, the officer handcuffed the girl and the mom struck her three times, Channel 2 reported.

Someone recorded the lashing on a cellphone, according to the television station. The video somehow ended up in the hands of Clayton school police, who turned it over to Clayton police.

“I am here to make no excuse about what is contained in that video,” Register said. “We are going to investigate it fully, and I will take appropriate action. The video is certainly disturbing for a number of reasons.”

Three officers have been pulled off patrol and put on desk duty pending the outcome of an internal investigation, according to Channel 2.

The mother was not arrested.

“We’re going to get to the bottom of what happened,” Register said.

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