Police officers involved in pepper spray against a 9-year-old girl in Rochester, New York, have been suspended, the city announced on Monday. The suspensions take effect immediately and last at least until the completion of the internal police investigation.
“What happened on Friday was just horrible and, rightly, outraged our entire community,” said Rochester Mayor Mayor Lovely Warren in a statement. “Unfortunately, state law and the union contract prevent me from taking more immediate and serious measures.”
Warren said he would “lead the attack” to change these laws to “allow cities to issue discipline more quickly in cases like this”.
The officers were suspended with expiration, on the condition that an suspension without expiration could not last more than 30 days without the conclusion of an internal investigation, reports the affiliate of CBS WROC-TV. The city did not say how many police officers were suspended. Previous reports indicated that a total of nine officers and supervisors responded to the “family problems” report on Friday.
Police Chief Andre Anderson said on Saturday that the girl was threatening to kill herself and her mother. The Rochester Police Department said in a statement that officers tried to force the girl into a police vehicle, but she tried to break free and kicked the police. The department said it “required an officer to bring the minor to the ground”.
As soon as she was in the back seat of the car, the police said the girl ignored several commands to put her feet inside the vehicle, and a police officer was “forced” to spray her with an irritating chemical. In the video of the body camera released on Sunday, before the girl was sprayed, a police officer can be heard saying, “Just spray her right now.”
The girl ended up being taken to a local hospital.
“I’m not going to stay here and say that for a 9-year-old child to have to be sprayed with pepper is fine. It’s not,” said police chief Cynthia Herriott-Sullivan at a news conference on Sunday. “I don’t see it as who we are as a department and we are going to do the work that we have to do to ensure that this type of thing does not happen.”
The police department is conducting an internal review of the incident and the Rochester Police Accountability Council is also investigating, according to WROC-TV.