ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP/WROC) — Police in Rochester released two body-camera videos Sunday of officers restraining a distraught 9-year-old girl who was handcuffed and sprayed with what police called a chemical “irritant.”
The Democrat and Chronicle reported that prior to the release of the videos, Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren expressed her concern for the “child that was harmed during this incident that happened on Friday.”
“I have a 10-year-old child, so she’s a child, she’s a baby. This video, as a mother, is not anything you want to see,” Warren went on to say.
A total of nine officers and supervisors responded to the report of “family trouble” on Friday. The girl can be heard in the body-camera videos from officers at the scene screaming frantically for her father as the officers try to restrain her.
At a news conference Sunday, Deputy Police Chief Andre Anderson described the girl as suicidal.
“She indicated she wanted to kill herself and she wanted to kill her mom,” he said.
Officers tried to force the girl into a patrol car but she pulled away and kicked at them. In a statement Saturday, the police department said this action “required” an officer to take the girl down to the ground. Then, the department said, “for the minor’s safety and at the request of the custodial parent on scene,” the child was handcuffed and put in the back of a police car as they waited for an ambulance to arrive.
Police said the girl disobeyed commands to put her feet in the car. An officer was then “required” to spray an “irritant” in the handcuffed girl’s face, the department said Saturday.
At Sunday’s news conference, Police Chief Cynthia Herriott-Sullivan described the irritant as pepper spray. She declined to defend the officers’ actions.
“I’m not going to stand here and tell you that for a 9-year-old to have to be pepper-sprayed is OK. It’s not,” Herriott-Sullivan said. “I don’t see that as who we are as a department, and we’re going to do the work we have to do to ensure that these kinds of things don’t happen.”
Police said the girl was eventually taken to Rochester General Hospital, “where she received the services and care that she needed,” and was later released to her family.
The Rochester Police Department has faced scrutiny since the death of Daniel Prude last year after officers from the department put a hood over his head and pressed his face into the pavement.
The RPD will conduct an internal review to make sure policy has not been violated.
The Rochester Police Accountability Board released the following statement:
“Our community needs to see exactly what happened on Avenue B. While the PAB cannot
Police Accountability Board Executive Director Conor Dwyer Reynolds
conduct disciplinary hearings, we still have a legal duty to bring transparency to all of the
RPD’s policies and practices, including those at issue here. The PAB will be working to
ensure all relevant information, including body-worn camera footage, is released to the
public without delay. The PAB will continue to advocate for changes that keep our
community’s children safe, including our call for the City to ban police use of chemical
weapons against Rochesterians of all ages.”
Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren released the following statement:
“I am deeply troubled by the macing and handcuffing of a child who is in distress and clearly emotional. That is why we are currently working hard to change how we deal with these types of calls and how our children are dealt with by police officers. I reviewed the body-worn camera footage and immediately spoke to the Chief about RPD’s response and also notified City Council. Unfortunately, this was not an incident where the Person in Crisis (PIC) or Forensic Intervention Team (FIT) would have been called because of the type of the initial 911 call. Unfortunately, there were a number events happening at the same time that required a police response. However, we will have our Person in Crisis team engage with the family to see what support we can provide going forward. The body-worn camera footage is being redacted because it involves a minor, and we will make it available as soon as possible.”
City Councilmember, and candidate for mayor, Malik Evans released the following statement:
“Like many in the community, I am deeply disturbed by the news that a minor child was handcuffed and sprayed with an irritant by the Rochester Police Department while responding to a mental health call on January 29. The bodycam footage and a detailed description of what happened should be released to the public As Soon As Possible. We must also have a full accounting on how the new process for engaging mental health professionals on RPD calls seem to have broke down in this instance.”
City Council President Loretta Scott and Vice President Willie Lightfoot released the following statement:
“This morning, our community was made aware of the incident on Harris Street that occurred last night involving a minor and the Rochester Police Department. We have reviewed footage of the incident, and we are shocked, disappointed, and angered by the handling of this incident.
This child was under extreme emotional distress and needed care from mental health professionals, or at the very least, assistance from a caring adult. It is difficult to understand why in the presence of multiple officers, there was a need to use handcuffs and mace to subdue this 9-year old.
It is clear that law enforcement is not properly trained to respond to mental health crises. However, that does not relieve them of their responsibility to serve with empathy and compassion.
We must ensure these mental health calls are routed to appropriate services, like the newly formed Person in Crisis (PIC) team, to allow mental health professionals to do their job.
This incident must be fully investigated, including a full review of all Body Worn Camera footage of the officers on scene, and an explanation for why PIC was not dispatched. We are calling on Chief Herriot-Sullivan to take any measures necessary to ensure this type of interaction does not reoccur in the future, and to hold accountable any officers who violated departmental policies in this regard.”