Witnesses said Kristien Garrett's one-year-old daughter and Garrett's mother Trina Woodcox were struck a number of times as the officers moved to detain Garrett's husband. Sean Garrett was allegedly handcuffed, beaten repeatedly and subjected to racial slurs while in custody; he was later released when ministry officials determined that his visa was valid.
The Oz unit, which spearheads a high-profile Interior Ministry campaign to track and expel foreign nationals who lack valid permits to remain in Israel, admitted to having detained a family member in error, but denied allegations of use of physical force. It countered that family members had attacked them with "cursing and swearing."
The family had come to Israel at the invitation of the Interior Ministry, which asked to interview them prior to a final decision on their request for immigrant status. Ministry officials held a hearing on their case last month, a step in the process toward receiving citizenship.
When Woodcox, who held the family's documents, asked to accompany Sean Garrett in the police van, "officers grabbed her by her hair and her head, and pulled her by her leg," dragging her out of the vehicle, Kristien Garrett told Haaretz Thursday, after her release from the hospital.
The officer with her mother "turned around and started hitting me and my child in the face," she said. Her husband tried to help her, "but two other officers jumped on him, handcuffed him, and beat him up while the other officer was hitting me and my daughter."
Neighbors left their houses to come to the family's aid. "Everything was just a big frenzy," Garrett said. "One of the neighbors came and took my daughter away from me, so that she wouldn't be hit any more. The police officer was kicking me and hit me in my stomach, and I hit him back, to get him off of me."
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