The video shows the girl telling officers, “I don’t want to go back home. I’m scared.” One officer responds that her mother is allowed to hit her. The teenager then says, “Choking is not disciplining me.”

The woman whose surveillance camera recorded the encounter, who asked not to be identified for privacy reasons, said the incident began when the teen contacted her to ask whether a friend could come over after an altercation at home. The woman said she went to the girl’s apartment and saw the mother grab the teenager’s backpack, push her against a wall and hit her.

The woman said the girl left the apartment barefoot, crying and bleeding from her mouth. She took the teen to her home and contacted police. According to the woman, officers returned the girl to her mother several hours later.

In the recording, an officer tells the woman and the teen that Nevada law allows “physical discipline” and does not specify what forms are prohibited, according to the footage. The woman said she also contacted child protective services and later sought information about making a complaint against the officers.

Nevada law recognizes reasonable corporal punishment that does not amount to abuse or neglect. State law also says excessive corporal punishment that causes physical or mental injury may constitute child abuse or neglect. Whether discipline crosses that line depends on the circumstances, including the force used and any resulting injury.

Louis Schneider, a Las Vegas attorney who handles family and criminal law and said he does not represent anyone involved, reviewed the police interaction on camera. He said there is a point at which physical punishment becomes child abuse and argued Nevada’s statutes need greater clarity.

The woman said she wants greater scrutiny of the state’s corporal-punishment laws. Las Vegas Metropolitan Police had not responded to a request for details about the incident as of the report’s publication.