A former Buckeye, Arizona, police officer has been indicted on aggravated assault charges following an incident where she was captured on surveillance footage roughly handling a 9-months-pregnant woman in handcuffs. Carri Carrico, 47, was indicted by a grand jury on May 27 on two counts of aggravated assault related to separate incidents.
Footage released from November 2025 shows Carrico shoving the 21-year-old victim into a wall and dragging her to a bench at a booking facility in Buckeye, a city outside Phoenix. The video also shows Carrico swinging at the woman’s head. The pregnant woman was subsequently taken to a hospital, where she was treated for a contusion and a concussion, according to a court filing. She told police that Carrico assaulted her after taking her into custody for reckless driving.
Carrico's body camera footage also captured her verbally berating the woman, using phrases such as “gross,” “nasty,” and “an a—.”
Second Assault Allegation
Carrico is also accused of assaulting a man in custody approximately two months after the incident with the pregnant woman. In this second incident, footage shows Carrico punching a man suspected of domestic violence and aggravated assault in the head as two other officers were escorting him. The man claims Carrico assaulted him while he was restrained, stating, “She tore my shirt. She punched me in the face when I was already restrained.” Carrico responded to the man by threatening him, saying, “I will smash you so hard into this f—ing wall you won’t see straight. Do you understand me? Do you f—ing understand?”
Carrico has pleaded not guilty to the charges. She went on unpaid leave last month after the charges were announced and resigned from the Buckeye Police Department on June 4. She had served with the department for several years after a decade with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office in California.
During an internal investigation, Carrico acknowledged that the video of her with the pregnant woman “looks really ugly,” but she defended her actions, stating, “I will say I’ve never once in my life open-hand slapped or struck anybody. And in this moment, I just think the only thing that I did was revert to my training.” A supervising sergeant reviewing the incident described her actions as “very aggressive” and “definitely over the top and unnecessary.”
Last year, Carrico received a Hero Award from Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and appeared in an episode of the television show COPS in 2022 while employed by the Riverside County Sheriff's Office. Her trial is scheduled for November.