MIAMI -- A veteran Miami police officer arrested for beating her girlfriend insisted the arrest was a set-up.

"We were having an argument and that's OK," said Yatha LeGrand, hours after she was released from jail Tuesday. "We should be able to contain ourselves, but emotions run high."

Bay Harbour Islands police arrested LeGrand early Tuesday morning at her condominium, following a disturbance reported by her neighbors.

LeGrand said she left as officers arrived. Then later, when she returned home, she called the lieutenant who had gone back to the station and asked to tell her side of the story.

On a recording of the phone call, LeGrand is heard complaining about financial issues with her girlfriend.

"She's going around to every single door in the building screaming like she's a domestic violence victim and she's not. I'm the victim here," LeGrand told the lieutenant.

Officers returned to the condominium to interview LeGrand and her girlfriend, Local 10's Glenna Milberg reported. Officers said they believed LeGrand was drunk.

LeGrand's girlfriend, who is not being identified, showed them bruises to her face, a smashed cell phone and said she feared LeGrand. She did not want to press charges, but officers did.

"“The officer is fairly compelled to have to make the arrest according to state law," said Bay Harbour Islands Police Chief Duncan Young. "The officer had seen injuries, bruising to the face, and the victim said she was afraid."

At Miami police headquarters, LeGrand’s personnel file details her 17-year career with the department. She has received a few dozen commendations for good work and 29 reprimands, most for missing court dates and calling in sick when she was not, according to the file. Records show she was relieved of duty once in the summer of 2003, but did not detail why.