The police department in Rochester, New York, have released body cam footage of a 9-year-old girl being handcuffed and pepper sprayed in response to a family disturbance call.
Two videos show officers restraining the girl, pushing her face in the snow to handcuff her, and then trying to force the girl into the back seat of a squad car as she is crying and calling for her father.
At one point, an officer said, “You’re acting like a child.” She responded, “I am a child.”
The officers indicated the girl was suicidal and wanted to kill herself and her mother. Initially she attempted to run away from officers.
She was transported to a hospital and has since been released.
Last year the Rochester Police Department was under scrutiny for the death of Daniel Prude, who died after police placed a hood over his head. That incident led the Rochester mayor Lovely Warren to fire the police chief.
She and police officials urged the city’s police officers to respond to incidents with more empathy and compassion, saying that officers needed better training in de-escalation and that the department required an overhaul in its internal culture.
CNN and New York Times