ST. PAUL — A Minnesota police officer accused of punching a 14-year-old girl in the face has pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor assault.

St. Paul Officer Michael Soucheray II entered his plea Thursday.

According to a criminal complaint, the incident happened in December as officers tried to take the reportedly suicidal girl to a hospital. She was refusing to go and became agitated, so she was cuffed and put in the back of a squad car. The complaint says she then spit in Soucheray’s face, and that’s when he hit her.

According to a press release, Soucheray’s attorney, Peter Wold, asked for a speedy trial. Wold said Soucheray, who has been on administrative leave, “wants to get back to work.”