Critics Blast Rochester Police for Handcuffing and Pepper Spraying 9 12 months Previous – and Claiming They Have been ‘Required’ To

The Rochester Police Department has come under national criticism for releasing footage from body cameras showing several exposed officers bringing a 9-year-old girl to the ground, handcuffing her, placing her in a police vehicle and spraying her with pepper when they walk she refuses to place her feet in the car.

Following a phone call from “family problems” and a possibly stolen vehicle, nine officers at a family home responded to the news that the child had said she wanted to kill herself and her mother, CNN reports. In the video you can hear her crying for her father.

The Rochester Police Department issued a statement that further fueled the outrage, claiming that multiple actions by the officers were “required”.

Police “tried to put the girl in a patrol car, and at that point she pulled back and kicked her,” Democrat & Chronicle reports. The paper also included the body cam videos which are annoying. In a statement on Saturday, they said the action required an officer to bring the girl to the ground. Then they said, “For the minor’s safety and at the request of the local custody parent,” the child was handcuffed and placed in the back of a police car. “

After the 9-year-old “disobeyed several orders to put her feet in the car,” the newspaper added, citing the RPD statement, that a “Rochester police officer” was asked to give the handcuffed girl an “irritant.” “Spray on the face, the department said on Saturday. “

CNN reports that “in the video, a policewoman is seen talking to the girl and finally saying,” This is your last chance or pepper spray will get into your eyeballs. “About a minute later you hear another officer say,” Just spray them on at this point. “The policewoman shakes a can that looks like pepper spray and the child continues to scream.”

The young child was clearly in distress, as the body cam footage shows.

Some answers about social media:

She is 9 and handcuffed. Why couldn’t they just wrap her in a blanket and put her in the car? Is her submission to her authority a prerequisite for achieving the goal of getting her to hospital?

– michael prelee (@michaelprelee) February 1, 2021

Admitting that she is 9 years old to justify spraying pepper isn’t the defense he thinks is right. https://t.co/5cF8FokbT7

– Ahmed Baba (@AhmedBaba_) February 1, 2021

She is 9 years old. What the hell would justify traumatizing this girl like that? I don’t shit what she did. It is irrelevant. This is so gross. Those cops didn’t because they had to. They did it because they enjoyed it.

– Dallas (@ChronicDal) February 1, 2021

Any final excuse for police brutality disappears when six police officers spray pepper spray on a 9-year-old girl, two of whom threaten her and four of whom watch. It’s awful. Outrageous. https://t.co/MN88lNlP9l

– JRehling (@JRehling) February 1, 2021

Never before have we had to use pepper spray to keep students or staff safe.

If you can’t deal with a 9-year-old with a mental illness, choose a career other than law enforcement.

Lord knows, if this was a kid in Pittsford they sure won’t get pepper spray.

– SportsRoc (@ SportsRoc2) February 1, 2021

Sorry, but there can be absolutely no excuse for it. If adult police officers cannot handle a 9 year old child without pepper spray and handcuffs, then they are not fit for the purpose.
NO APOLOGY.

– 𝕊𝕥𝕖𝕧𝕖 ℍ𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕗𝕠𝕣𝕥 (@PrinceOfLurg) February 1, 2021

This shows exactly how much police accountability and police reform is required.

This justification for spraying a 9 year old brings with it the implicit, far excessive force that they would have used if the child had been older.
“At least we only used pepper spray” 🤬

– Andrew Rothstein (@ASRothstein) February 1, 2021

I am the mother of 4 children and a teacher. There is absolutely no reason to ever spray pepper spray on a 9 year old. I don’t care if she bit the cops, I don’t care if she kicked and screamed, and I don’t care if she threw herself on the floor and cursed them. NONE.

– circe le femme (@CerseiLe) February 1, 2021

But they cry over defunding. Seems like they have more cops than they need. It took Rochester 8 of its “bravest” to treat a 9-year-old with pepper spray. Idiots

– Soyuz (@Zambioza) February 1, 2021