A black couple was removed from their vehicle with incredibly excessive force by police officers in Atlanta -- and, supposedly, it's all because they were out past curfew.

The viral video was captured live on the air Saturday night by CBS46 -- the local ATL affiliate that was reporting on the protests and riots going down Saturday night. During the broadcast, one of the reporters and cameramen began filming a wild encounter on the streets ... showing a young couple being yanked from their vehicle by riot gear cops.

It's unclear what exactly led up to the altercation, but CBS46's news banner during the segment read "POLICE BEGIN ENFORCING 9PM CURFEW." That has led many to speculate that these two individuals were simply targeted for being out of their homes when 9 o'clock rolled around ... which, if true, is absolutely insane.

More troubling than that, though, is how the officers dealt with them -- opening their door, demanding they exit ... and then resorting to tasering both of them and pulling them out when the man and woman refused. They even reportedly broke the windows/slashed tires.

Both the man and woman were detained and cuffed on the ground, and then led away. It's unclear if they were ultimately arrested and booked for anything.

CBS46 acknowledges in their own on-the-scene reporting that they do not know why so many cops were honed in on this one vehicle -- there doesn't appear to be others around it at the time this was filmed -- but in any case, APD is being heavily scrutinized as a result.

The department has not addressed this specific situation -- we've also reached out to them about it, but haven't heard back. The only thing they've said online is that they're working on releasing the names and charges of everyone they arrested over the last 48 hours.