A teenaged girl assaulted a female Police officer by putting her in a headlock until she couldn't breathe, a court heard yesterday.

Tanya Taylor, 17, went on to pull Sergeant Devon Richardson's hair during the fracas in Queen Street on Wednesday night. She was eventually subdued with incapacitant spray.

Taylor pleaded guilty yesterday morning at Plea Court to assaulting the officer in an attempt to pervert the course of justice.

Prosecutor Carrington Mahoney told the court that Police were called to the scene outside the Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant around 9.15 pm. When they arrived they saw a large crowd outside, and a male with no shirt on appeared to be chasing a female.

The male began to run north on Queen Street and Sgt. Richardson went to help a colleague who was trying to arrest him, but Taylor intervened.

"The defendant placed Sergeant Richardson in a headlock, cutting off her oxygen supply and said 'leave him alone'," explained the prosecutor. The officer tried to fight Taylor off as she went on to pull her hair, before using her anti-attack spray on her.

The teenaged girl was eventually arrested, and the officer was left with several abrasions and cuts to her hands.

Taylor, who has no previous convictions, told Magistrate Archibald Warner: "I know I done it so I've nothing to say."

Defence lawyer Shade Subair said the girl had been involved in one side of a fight and was trying to prevent the Police from arresting her friend.

Mr. Warner ordered a pre-sentence report to be prepared. He bailed Taylor, and told her to come back to court on August 27 for sentencing.