NEW YORK, Feb 2 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Police officers who handcuffed and
pepper-sprayed a nine-year-old girl in the US city of Rochester were
suspended at the mayor’s request.
“What happened Friday was simply horrible, and has rightly outraged, all of our community,” said Mayor Lovely Warren. “Unfortunately, (New York) state law and union contract prevents me from taking more immediate and serious action.”
Warren did not specify how many officers were suspended. The suspension
will last at least until the conclusion of an internal investigation by the
Rochester police.
Footage released Sunday, which has sparked new outrage over excesses
committed by the country’s law enforcement, showed at least seven officers
were involved in the incident Friday.
Deputy Police Chief Andre Anderson said the girl — who has not been named — had been suffering from a serious mental health emergency,
reportedly threatening to take her own life and that of her mother.
Officers called to the scene on Friday eventually responded by handcuffing
her, before trying to force her into a car and pepper-spraying her when she
resisted, body cam videos released by the city’s police force showed.
Footage of police violence against African Americans, including the May
2020 killing of George Floyd, sparked a summer of protests across the US
against racial injustice and police brutality last year.
Rochester police on Saturday said they were “required” to use handcuffs and the irritant against the girl for her own safety.
Warren condemned the use of force against a young girl, pledging an
internal review of the city’s law enforcement practices.
The incident is the second time in a year that Rochester has come under
national scrutiny for police violence, following the killing last March of
Daniel Prude, who died after police hooded and forced him face down on the road.
The death of Prude, an African-American man who was also undergoing a
mental health crisis at the time of his detention, prompted a grand jury
probe and sparked mass protests.
Local police chief Cynthia Herriott-Sullivan also acknowledged that the
police had acted excessively in the latest incident. — NNN-AGENCIES
