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A police officer punched a woman in the face, knocking her to the ground in a shocking incident on the streets of New York City.

The violent encounter occurred in Harlem, where a group of police officers crowded around outside a residence.

A video that circulated social media shows a woman running up to the crowd. She appears to have an argument with an officer and shove him. The cop then hits her in the face, causing her to fall backwards onto the ground.

‘Why would you do that? Why would you do that?’ a man is heard shouting as chaos ensues.

It was not clear if she lost consciousness, but police officers quickly pulled the woman onto her feet and handcuffed her.

The New York Police Department said cops in the August 12 incident were trying to arrest a man in connection with an attempted murder on West 136th Street near Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard, according to NBC 4.

‘While police were effecting the arrest, multiple individuals on scene interfered by physically assaulting numerous officers,’ the police department told TMZ. ‘One officer sustained a minor injury to the head.’

The woman has been identified as Tamani Crum, 19, a hairdresser.

Following the incident, two women were charged with assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest and obstructing governmental administration. One of those women was also charged with harassment and menacing. And a third woman was accused of spitting at a cop.

Crum was initially arrested on multiple charges including assaulting a cop and was later also charged with obstruction.

Cops were ‘attempting to take an individual into custody when a struggle ensued and a crowd formed around the officers,’ the police department stated.

‘The individual was carrying in his waistband an illegal, loaded semiautomatic Polymer 80 handgun, known as a “ghost gun”. The NYPD officers removed yet another illegal firearm – and the person brazen enough to carry it in public – from the streets of our city.’

According to the police department, the officer tried to defend himself from Crum with an ‘open hand’. She was conscious after falling and requested to be taken to a hospital.

The police department has not announced disciplinary action against the officer.

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