MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota police department said Monday it will conduct a thorough investigation into an incident involving an officer and a Somali teen after a video surfaced on Twitter that appears to show the officer pushing and hitting the young man who was talking on a cellphone.

A Somali civil rights group sought to find out whether the incident was racially motivated. Members of the Somali Human Rights Commission were expected to meet with Richfield’s police chief Tuesday, said the group’s chief executive, Omar Jamal.

The incident happened Saturday night in the Twin Cities suburb of Richfield. In the video, an officer is seen approaching a teen, then yelling and pointing. The officer then pushes the teen, yells again as the two exchange words and strikes him in the side of the head before giving him another shove.

The teen in the video, Kamal Gelle, said he had a headache afterward but wasn’t severely injured.

“He’s a cop,” said Gelle, who is Somali. “He had two dogs in the car barking. He had a gun. With everything that’s been going on with police … I got scared. I thought I was going to be a victim.”