Runaway teen girl bites officer who tried to take her cellphone, Kansas police say

A runaway girl who police say bit, hit and kicked three Salina police officers who tried to take her cellphone was arrested on suspicion of battery of a law enforcement officer.

Police were called to the emergency room at Salina Regional Health Center around 8 p.m. Tuesday, Capt. Paul Forrester said in a news release. Officers took into custody a 15-year-old girl who had run away from her Montgomery County home.

Police had arranged transportation for the girl to a detention center in Girard, but the vehicle was not expected to arrive until 2 a.m. Wednesday. While the teenage girl waited in the intake room, she refused to give officers her cellphone, Forrester said.

The girl resisted officers when they tried to take her phone: She kicked one officer, bit another officer’s hand and struck a third officer in the chest and head, police said.

The girl was arrested on suspicion of battery of a law enforcement officer, interference with law enforcement and a hold on a no-run order, police said. She was escorted to the Saline County Sheriff’s Office juvenile intake area to be taken to Junction City.