Videos with body cameras from Friday’s meeting – released by the police department over the weekend – showed police officers arresting the child, putting him in handcuffs and trying to put him inside the back of a police vehicle as she repeatedly cried and called for your father.
The officers were responding to what the police called “family problems” at a meeting that was heavily criticized by city officials. The incident sparked protests in the community.
Herriott-Sullivan said in a statement that the decision to remove the officers from the patrol came in response to Mayor Lovely Warren’s order that the three officers be immediately suspended.
One police officer was suspended and two were placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal investigation, according to the statement.
In two videos of body cameras, police officers are seen spraying the girl with pepper spray after she failed to follow orders to put her feet in the car.
The girl was transported to Rochester General Hospital, where she was later released, police said.
The officers involved were suspended on Monday, city officials said. CNN contacted the police union for comment.
CNN was unable to verify the 9-year-old boy’s race with officials or family members.
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.
The police called a ‘family problems’ report
The officers were called to a home on the afternoon of January 29 for a “family problems” report, Rochester Police Chief Andre Anderson said on Sunday.
The police were informed that the girl was “suicidal” and that she had “indicated that she wanted to kill herself and wanted to kill her mother”, explained the deputy.
The girl tried to escape from the police, said Anderson, and a video released by the police shows a policeman chasing her and trying to help.
Then, he said, her mother arrived and the video from the body’s camera shows them arguing. Anderson said the police then decided to take the child out of the situation and transport him to a local hospital.
But the girl refused to get into a police vehicle, “struggled” and kicked a police officer, dropping her body camera, according to Anderson.
“It didn’t look like she was resisting the cops, she was trying not to be contained to go to the hospital,” said Anderson. “While the police were making several attempts to get him into the car, a police officer sprayed the child with OC spray to get him into the car.”
The video from the body’s camera shows the girl screaming repeatedly for her father, while being physically restrained by police officers. She is seen screaming before her head is pressed against the snow-covered ground and handcuffed. A fight begins between the girl and the police as they try to put her inside the back of a police vehicle.
At one point, a policeman said, “You are acting like a child.”
“I am a child!” the girl responds.
Later in the video, a female police officer is seen talking to the girl, finally 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 officers involved in the incident were not identified by the police, nor was the child or mother.
Anderson said on Sunday that “he was not making excuses for what happened” and that the department is “looking for a culture change”. The department is in the process of reviewing several policies and looking to make changes, according to Anderson.
Mayor Warren said she instructed the police chief to conduct a thorough and thorough investigation of the incident and said she welcomes the review of what happened by the city’s police accountability committee.
After officials were suspended on Monday, she said what happened was “just horrible”.
“Unfortunately, state law and the union contract prevent me from taking more immediate and serious measures,” she said.
New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a tweet on Monday that her office is also investigating the incident. She called the incident “deeply disturbing and totally unacceptable”.
Governor Andrew Cuomo said in his state and across the country, the relationship between the police and the community “is clearly not working.”
“Rochester needs to have a real problem with police accountability, and this alarming incident requires a thorough investigation that sends a message that this behavior will not be tolerated,” he said.
CNN’s Laura James, Eric Levenson, Saffeya Ahmed, Laura James, Sarah Jorgensen, Jessica Prater, Kristina Sgueglia, Hollie Silverman and Alec Snyder contributed to this report.