Distressing video has circulated on social media showing New York City officers attempting to arrest a woman and a teenage girl who were selling fruit in Manhattan’s Battery Park over the weekend.

Video of the incident was shared on X Sunday showing the altercation that unfolded at about 2 p.m.

The clip, filmed by a passerby, showed a woman in a yellow jersey with a NYC Parks Enforcement Patrol officer holding one of her arms and a New York City Police Department officer at her other arm. The camera then panned to a young girl in a pink shirt and leggings who was being grabbed by a Parks Enforcement officer.

The girl appeared to be upset as the Parks Enforcement officer had his arms wrapped around her from behind with handcuffs visible in the officer’s right hand.

Multiple people are heard in the background decrying what the officers were doing, saying, “What are you doing?” “Let her go!” and “Stop touching her!”

The Parks Enforcement officer took several steps with the girl in his grasp and a few seconds later, an NYPD officer grabbed one of her arms, with a handcuff visibly hanging off of her wrist. However, a crowd yelling and screaming had gathered around them, making it difficult to move.

Then, at least two passersby attempted to pull the girl away from the Parks Enforcement officer’s grasp, and the two ended up tumbling onto the ground. The girl was pulled off the ground and away from the officer by passersby.

The clip ended with that Parks Enforcement officer on his knees on the ground looking up at another officer and asking, “Where the f— is everybody else?”

The person who shared video of the incident on X wrote: “This is what f—— @NYCParks and NYPD are busy doing on a Sunday afternoon…trying to put a twelve year old child in cuffs who’s selling fruit with her family.” The X user said the incident unfolded between Battery Park and the Staten Island Ferry entrance.

A 32-year-old female received a desk appearance ticket, and a 14-year-old received a juvenile report as a result of the incident, according to NYC Parks. They have not been identified, and it is unclear if they have legal representation.

A spokesperson for NYC Parks confirmed that the video posted online depicted the Sunday incident.

Officers with Parks Enforcement Patrol and the NYPD had confiscated perishable items from unlicensed vendors in the park, and were attempting to destroy items considered unsafe for consumption when two individuals intervened, leading to what was depicted in the video, authorities said.

“Our Parks Enforcement Patrol’s (PEP) first course of action is to educate in order to bring violators into compliance. When individuals have repeatedly flouted the law, we take additional enforcement actions, and there are instances when it is necessary to place violators and individuals obstructing the law under arrest,” the Parks spokesperson said.

The officer involved in the clip has been assigned to administrative duties amid an ongoing investigation into the incident.

Mayor Eric Adams acknowledged that he saw the video during a press conference Monday, saying the woman and child had been participating in illegal vending — which he said was a symptom of a greater issue regarding migrants in New York and a lack of work opportunities.

However, officials have not disclosed the immigration status of the women depicted in the video.

“No one wants to see a 12-year-old handled in a way that can seem offensive or abusive. No one wants to see that. We’re going to continue to get better at what we do,” Adams said, citing an age for the child that differed from what NYC Parks released. “The larger problem here that no one wants to talk about: it is not dignified to have people unable to provide for themselves. We’ve been saying this for almost two years now. Let them work.”

Adams said the area where the video was taken had received “a substantial number of 311 complaints because of illegal vendoring.”

Adams said, “the parent there is a habitual abuser of it, and she has been told several times, and she refuses to comply.”

“It’s impacting the quality of life. We hear it all the time. People are calling us and saying it gives the appearance that our city is having a level of disorder … The Parks Enforcement officers must respond to that. We have to respond to complaints that are coming from citizens,” Adams said.

The mayor said the NYC Parks Enforcement Patrol is doing an investigation into the matter, as is the NYPD.

“This is really the complexity that I talk about when we talk about migrants and asylum seekers and the inability for them to work,” Adams stressed.

He stressed that illegal vending is “not working.”

“We don’t want our babies on the train selling candy … They should not be on the highways with their children on their backs selling items … Why aren’t we allowing able-bodied human beings that came to America to pursue the American dream?” Adams said.”The bottom line is they were illegal vending because they’re not allowed to work legally.”

NBC News has reached out to the Mayor’s office for further details on the woman and child. The NYC Street Vendor Justice Coalition said they are mother and daughter.

“We are appalled by the aggression towards a street vendor family and their young daughter, and our City’s increasingly harmful approach towards NYC’s smallest businesses. Street vendors are primarily immigrants, people of color, and working families — exactly the New Yorkers whom our city’s administration claims to support,” said a statement from the coalition.

The group said that “it’s nearly impossible to obtain a vendor permit — over 20,000 New Yorkers sit on waitlists to obtain vendor permits, waitlists so large they are closed to new applicants.”

“Sadly, this is not the first, nor the last time, an incident like this will happen,” the statement said.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com