Rochester police have released two videos with body cameras of officers containing a 9-year-old girl who was handcuffed and handcuffed with what police called “irritating” a chemical.
ROCHESTER, NY – Rochester police released two videos on Sunday of officers’ bodies containing a 9-year-old girl who was handcuffed and handcuffed and sprayed with what police described as “irritating” a product. chemical.
The Democrat and Chronicle reported that before posting the videos, Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren expressed concern about the “child who was injured during this incident that happened Friday.”
“I have a ten-year-old boy, so he’s a boy, he’s a baby. This video, as a mother, is nothing you want to see, ”Warren continued.
A total of nine officers and supervisors responded Friday to the “family problems” report. The girl can be heard in the body camera videos of the site officers screaming frantically for her father as the officers try to stop her.
At a news conference Sunday, Deputy Police Director Andre Anderson described the girl as suicidal.
“He indicated he wanted to commit suicide and he wanted to kill his mother,” he said.
Officers tried to force the girl into a patrol car, but she pulled away and kicked them. In a statement Saturday, the police department said the action “required” an officer to take the girl to the ground. The department then said, “for the safety of the minor and at the request of the guardian father who was at the scene,” the boy was handcuffed and placed in the back of a police car while awaiting the arrival of an ambulance.
Police said the girl disobeyed orders to put her feet in the car. An agent was then “forced” to spray an “irritant” on the handcuffed girl’s face, the department said Saturday.
At Sunday’s press conference, Police Chief Cynthia Herriott-Sullivan described the irritant as pepper spray. She refused to defend the actions of the officers.
“I’m not going to stay here and tell you that for a 9-year-old you have to sprinkle it with pepper, it’s fine. It’s not, “Herriott-Sullivan said.” I don’t see it as who we are as a department and we will do the work we have to do to ensure that this kind of thing doesn’t happen. “
Police said the girl was eventually taken to Rochester General Hospital, “where she received the services and care she needed,” and was later released by her family.
The Rochester police department has faced an examination since the death of Daniel Prude last year after officers from the department put a hood over his head and pressed his face to the pavement.