It’s a disturbing viral video that is destined to cause a firestorm of race-related controversy.

On Tuesday evening at about 6:00 pm, David Diaz began filming as a woman was determined to evade a police officer.

The officer eventually wrestled the woman to the ground.

Instead of handcuffing her, the officer begins to punch her in the face repeatedly. The woman is clearly trying to block the blows, and is not fighting back.

Later in the video a second man runs over. The unidentified man helps subdue the frazzled woman, who is then taken into custody.

Diaz then uploaded the video to YouTube and it quickly went viral.

Outraged citizens took to the California Highway Patrol’s Facebook page to express their anger at what many are calling “police brutality”.

California Highway Patrol probing video of roadside beating http://t.co/oqzqsTmjvX pic.twitter.com/UvDzmxh8wb

— CBS News (@CBSNews) July 4, 2014

One commenter wrote, “Disgusting use of clearly excessive force. Regardless of the circumstances it is obvious he had control (of her clearly not himself). It shouldn’t take more than a minute to review the case. I hope the CHP cares more about their public trust so a little faith can be restored in an institution that is supposed to protect them!”

With a growing negative public perception thanks to the controversial video, the California Highway Patrol made the following statement:

As a matter of policy, every time there is a use of force by our officers, there is a review conducted to determine whether the use of force was appropriate,” read a CHP statement, according to NBC Los Angeles. “That will be done in this case, however, since there is an ongoing investigation, it would be premature to comment on this specific video segment without reviewing the entire incident.

California Highway Patrol officer punches woman over 10 times in arrest posted on YouTube http://t.co/OvmI9yMWqO pic.twitter.com/87uMwdY27Z

— Globalnews.ca (@globalnews) July 4, 2014

The agency was not forthcoming as to the name of the officer, the woman who was arrested, nor any actual explanation as to why the woman was arrested. A spokesman did claim that the woman in the video suffered no permanent injuries.

The full video can be seen here:

Image via YouTube