A complaint notice states that the girl’s mother, Elba Pope, will seek compensation due to “mental anguish and psychological / emotional distress and trauma” and “physical injury and substantial pain”, as well as coverage for any future medical and mental treatment needed. of health.
Pope’s daughter ran away from home in danger because “she was upset about the argument between her mother and her stepfather,” says the notice, which CNN obtained from family lawyer Lorenzo Napolitano.
Pope has explicitly accused officials of “irresponsible, reckless and malicious” conduct and is alleging “negligence, violation of state and federal constitutional rights, imposition of emotional suffering, aggression, aggression, excessive force, false imprisonment, (e) false imprisonment” although it has not limited the scope of the complaint to those allegations, the notice says.
Before a person sues a city for damages, New York law requires the claimant to prepare and deliver a formal notice explaining the nature of the claim.
“No 9-year-old child should be handcuffed. No 9-year-old child should receive pepper spray. Nobody’s humanity should be rejected because of a badge. No human should be treated like that,” said Napolitano in a statement. “Reform is necessary. Reform can come, but only if we are willing to hear this girl crying out for protection that she did not receive from the Rochester Police.”
One police officer involved was suspended and two were placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal investigation, a statement from Rochester police chief Cynthia Herriott-Sullivan said on Tuesday. Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren condemned the incident on Monday, calling it “just horrible”.
CNN contacted the Rochester Police Department and the mayor to comment on the complaint notice.
Family problem call
The police responded to what the police called the “family problems” report and the meeting that followed was severely criticized by city and state officials. The incident sparked protests in the community.
Two videos from the body camera of the January 29 meeting show police officers arresting the child, handcuffing him and trying to place him inside the back of a police vehicle as he cries repeatedly and calls out to his father.
At one point, a policeman said, “You are acting like a child.”
“I am a child!” the girl responds.
A female police officer is seen talking to the girl later in the video, eventually saying, “This is your last chance, otherwise the pepper spray will get in your eyes.” About a minute later, another police officer can be heard saying, “Just spray it right now.” The police officer is seen shaking a can that looks like pepper spray and the child continues to scream.
The girl was transported to Rochester General Hospital and later released, police said.
At a news conference on Sunday, Herriott-Sullivan said the girl’s treatment was not acceptable.
“I am not going to stay here and say that for a 9 year old child to have to be sprayed with pepper spray everything is fine. It isn’t, ”she said. “I don’t see it as who we are as a department, and we’re going to do the work that we have to do to make sure that kind of thing doesn’t happen.”
Warren said the girl reminded her of her own daughter.
On Monday, New York state senator Samra Brouk and Congressman Demond Meeks, both Democrats, introduced legislation that would ban the use of chemical agents by police against minors in the state, according to a statement.
“The distressing experience of a nine-year-old girl in our community – including being handcuffed and sprayed with pepper – should never happen to another child,” said Brouk in a statement. “This legislation will ensure that when a child is in crisis, he will never again be faced with such violence in the form of pepper spray or other chemical irritants.”
New York Attorney General Letitia James tweeted on Monday that her office is also investigating the incident. She called the incident “deeply disturbing and totally unacceptable”.
The police did not identify the officers involved in the incident or the child.
CNN was unable to verify with the authorities or family members the 9-year-old’s race.
CNN’s Ray Sanchez, Mirna Alsharif, Laura James, Eric Levenson, Saffeya Ahmed, Sarah Jorgensen, Jessica Prater, Kristina Sgueglia and Hollie Silverman contributed to this report.