The Brooklyn councilwoman charged with biting an NYPD official at a protest spoke out on Thursday, saying officers manhandled her as she tried to keep an elderly woman from getting hurt. 

Councilwoman Susan Zhuang was arrested at the site of a planned homeless shelter in Gravesend Wednesday after she allegedly bit a deputy chief as NYPD officers struggled with protesters opposed to the project. 

Multiple videos from Wednesday show the Democrat, wearing a pink shirt, struggling with officers and a metal barricade. A City Hall spokesperson said Zhuang and other protesters pushed police barricades against officers who were trying to assist a woman who had ended up on the sidewalk. 

At a press conference Thursday, however, Zhuang painted a different picture of the raucous scene, saying she had been trying to help the 81-year-old woman when police intervened. 

A video that played before Zhuang spoke showed the woman lying on the sidewalk beneath a metal barricade, eliciting gasps from supporters gathered to hear the councilwoman’s remarks.  

The crowd chanted “Susan! Susan!” as she made her way to the front of the room. Addressing her supporters, Zhuang said she “should not have been arrested."

The councilwoman said a peaceful protest escalated when the community “jumped to protect [the 81-year-old] grandmother.”

“I called the NYPD to assist her, to call for an ambulance. Well, nothing happened,” she said. “I [had] to talk to them many times. Finally, they called the ambulance.” 

During a struggle that ensued in an effort to move the barricade, Zhuang said officers approached her from behind and handcuffed her, with one officer pulling her hair as another grabbed her neck.

A complaint filed with the Brooklyn district attorney’s office said Zhuang bit one of the officers’ forearms, breaking skin. Officials identified the officer as Deputy Chief Frank DiGiacomo. He was treated with an “antiviral cocktail” and a tetanus shot at a nearby hospital, according to the complaint.  

While Zhuang emphasized her support for the NYPD on Thursday, she said she had not anticipated their use of force. She did not admit to biting the officer. 

“I never imagined it [would] happen to me, OK? I’m still alive today, but that should not happen to anyone,” she said. “Police brutality is wrong. The misuse of enforcement is wrong.”

“The issue is not unique to myself, as many members in [the] Asian community have been subject to this use of... enforcement,” she added. “Mistreatment by our NYPD, who I always support, it must be stopped.” 

Zhuang, whose district includes Gravesend, Bensonhurst and Dyker Heights, has pleaded not guilty to charges including second-degree assault — a felony — third-degree assault and resisting arrest in connection with Wednesday’s incident, a spokesperson for the DA’s office said.

The councilwoman faces up to seven years behind bars if she is convicted of second-degree assault. 

At a news briefing Wednesday, NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell said in "no way, shape or form, in no way shape, is it acceptable to assault and/or bite a New York City police officer."

"Councilwoman Zhuang has been a great partner with the New York City Police Department for a long time," he said. "But, the actions today of assaulting one of our police officers, deputy chief, by biting him viciously in the arm, I can't explain it right now."

Brooklyn Democratic Councilman Justin Brannan’s district shares a border with Zhuang’s.

“Just because you’re an elected official, just because you say you’re pro-cop — you assaulted a police officer and the legal process has to run its course,” he told NY1 Thursday.

Council Speaker Adrienne Adams’ office said, as of now, the Council is not sanctioning Zhuang.

“Other members of the Council, there’d probably be calls for them to resign at this point,” Brannan said.

Zhuang is one of 10 people arrested on Wednesday, according to the NYPD. She is due back in court on Oct. 15.

On Thursday morning, community members returned to the site of Zhuang's arrest to continue protesting the proposed homeless shelter. The city said the community was notified about the planned shelter, which would house up to 150 single men, last fall. 

Community members who spoke with NY1, however, maintained they were not included in planning discussions and said they felt blindsided by the plans. 

In a statement released Wednesday, a City Hall spokesperson said, in part, “Every community must have the resources they need to support their most vulnerable neighbors, and this community has no shelters.”