Officials in Rochester, New York, are investigating a video-captured confrontation showing police spraying pepper at a 9-year-old girl while responding to a “family problems” report, officials said on Sunday.
Rochester’s mayor Lovely Warren said she instructed police chief Cynthia Herriott-Sullivan to investigate the incident last Friday, and the city police accountability board will also review what happened.
“This is not something any of us should want to justify,” said Warren, adding that he saw “his baby’s face” when he looked at the 9-year-old girl.
Police were called after a report that the girl was threatening to hurt herself and her mother, Deputy Chief Andre Anderson told reporters.
When officers tried to move the girl to a police car to take her to the hospital, she resisted, kicking one of the officers, Anderson said.
Camera video of the body released by the police department on Sunday shows authorities handcuffing the girl as she repeatedly screams for her father and refuses to get into the vehicle.
“You are acting like a child,” said one of the officers at one point.
“I am a child”, she can be heard answering.
In the video, police officers can be heard saying they would spray her with pepper if she continued to resist. When an officer did, said Anderson, “the effects of that didn’t work.”
It is unclear what happened before or after the video, which was edited by the police, although Anderson said the girl was eventually taken to Rochester General Hospital and released.
The officers in the video were not identified and additional details about the incident were not immediately available. A message left with the Rochester Police Department requesting an incident report was not returned on Sunday night.
The city police union also did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but in comments cited by the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, union president Mike Mazzeo said the policeman made the decision to subdue the girl and acted in a way that did not hurt her.
“I’m not saying that there are no better ways to do things,” Mazzeo told the newspaper. “But let’s be realistic about what we’re up against … It’s not TV, it’s not Hollywood. We don’t have a simple (situation), where we can reach out and have someone immediately handcuffed and obey. “
The confrontation comes less than a year after Daniel Prude, 41, died while being restrained by Rochester police with a “spit hood” on his head.
The head of the police department and all command staff resigned after Prude’s death, and the city enacted law enforcement reforms, including removing the crisis intervention from the police’s purview.
The city launched a “people in crisis” response team earlier this month, but did not respond to Friday’s clash because the initial call to 911 was unjustified, Warren said.
“There were a series of events happening at the same time at this location, and they all demanded a response from the police,” she said.
She added that the city’s goal is to provide a joint response between the police and the crisis team to “improve the way we protect our community”.