• A video clip that started trending online Tuesday shows a male police officer in Austin, Texas, frisking a woman during a traffic stop.
  • Many commenters online described the incident as groping and sexual assault. Austin police defended the officer, saying he followed standard procedure.
  • The woman can be heard in the video repeatedly demanding a female officer.
  • The Austin Police Department said in a statement that the officer acted appropriately, the encounter was recorded, and another officer was present.
  • The police said the officer was conducting a search before transporting the woman to jail in connection with “multiple hazardous traffic violations.”
  • Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.

A video widely shared on social media earlier this week shows a male police officer in Austin, Texas, frisking a woman during a traffic stop. Numerous commenters online described the incident as groping and sexual assault, but Austin police defended the officer, saying he followed standard procedure.

In the video, which circulated Tuesday, the woman – whom police identified as Rosalinda Nuno Trevino – can be heard demanding a female officer as the male officer continues to search her in front of a parked police vehicle.

The Austin Police Department defended the officer’s conduct in a statement published Tuesday.

It said the officer, who has not been publicly identified, told Trevino that a female officer wasn’t available.

"He conducted the search in front of a police vehicle where a vehicle camera could document and at least one other officer was present, as required by APD policy," the statement read.

The statement said Trevino was arrested in connection with multiple traffic violations.

"Ms. Trevino was placed under arrest for the multiple hazardous traffic violations to include, running a red light, failure to yield the right-of-way to pedestrians, improper use of a horn, and failure to maintain an assured clear distance," the statement read.

The video sparked outrage on Twitter.

Several people accused the officer of sexual assault, and activists demanded that he lose his job.

https://twitter.com/ess_s_/status/1280378657039544320?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

The incident resembled a video that went viral last year in which an attorney for a woman in North Carolina subject to a search said a police pat-down "crossed the boundary into sexual assault," NBC affiliate WRAL reported.

Raleigh Chief of Police Cassandra-Deck said in a press conference that the "officer was absolutely professional in everything that he did," according to NBC News.

This post has been updated.