Rochester Mayor Suspends Officers Who Handcuffed, Pepper Sprayed 9-Year-Old Girl

Topline

Rochester police officers involved in the restraining and pepper spraying of a 9-year-old girl this week were suspended Monday amid renewed, and widespread, outrage at police misconduct in the city.

Key Facts

Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren said in a statement that the suspensions will last until the conclusion of an internal investigation, though it is unclear how many officers were suspended.

Warren said that “unfortunately, state law and union contract prevents me from taking more immediate and serious action.”

In body camera footage released Sunday, officers responding to a family disturbance call are seen pushing the girl onto the snow, handcuffing and pepper spraying her because she refused to get into the police car and kept screaming for her dad.

Police say the officers were attempting to take the girl to the hospital because she indicated she “wanted to kill herself and she wanted to kill her mom,” but Interim Rochester Police Chief Cynthia Herriott-Sullivan still said the officers’ actions weren’t OK.

The child was eventually taken to the hospital and has since been released to her family, according to the Democrat & Chronicle.

Key Background

This isn’t the first time the Rochester Police Department has faced scrutiny for police misconduct recently. Last year, Daniel Purdue, a 41-year-old Black man, died of asphyxiation in police custody after officers put a hood over his head as he was experiencing a mental health crisis. Both the chief and deputy chief of police resigned after the incident.

Tangent

The fact that police were the ones to respond to a family disturbance call renewed calls to use money from police budgets to fund teams of social workers and other community members to respond to crises. “The Rochester Police Department has no business serving as the first responder in a mental health crisis that calls for mental health expertise,” the New York Civil Liberties Union said in a statement.

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