At one point, the girl ran from the home and was chased down by an officer. After the girl’s mother arrived, she began arguing with the officer, causing more commotion and reportedly upsetting the girl further. Eventually, as the officers tried to put the girl into the cop car, she kicked at them and tried to pull away, which, according to a police statement, “required” an officer to take her down to the ground.
The child was then handcuffed and again officers tried to put her in the back of a patrol car until an ambulance could arrive. Police said the girl refused to listen and put her feet in the car, which the police said “required an officer to use an irritant on the minor.”
WHECTV Created: February 01, 2021 12:22 PM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) Local faith leaders with the United Christian Leadership Ministry are calling for the Rochester Police Department to review and evaluate all policies and procedures relative to minors in wake of Friday s incident where an officer pepper-sprayed a 9-year-old girl.
In a news conference Monday morning, UCLM s Reverend Lewis Stewart said the RPD must release its full, unredacted bodycam footage from the incident, as well as suspend all officers involved without pay, and on a larger level, ban both the handcuffing and pepper-spraying of children.
Stewart said the actions of the officers follows a pattern, which needs correction.
Rochester Police Handcuffed and Pepper-Sprayed a Nine-Year-Old Girl Just spray her at this point, says one officer in body-camera footage
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As the Rochester
Democrat & Chronicle reports, the footage was released Sunday, January 31st. Following the incident, the child was taken to Rochester General Hospital where she was treated, and then released to her family.
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The incident took place Friday afternoon, when RPD officers responded to a call involving “family trouble” and a possible stolen vehicle. After arriving, the nine-year-old’s mother told the officers she was worried her daughter might harm herself and others. RPD Deputy Police Chief Andre Anderson described her as suicidal and added that she “wanted to kill her mom” as well, during a press conference Sunday.
UCLM Proposes Police Reforms By Spectrum News Staff Rochester PUBLISHED 6:23 PM ET Jan. 06, 2021 PUBLISHED 6:23 PM EST Jan. 06, 2021
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ROCHESTER, N.Y. The United Christian Leadership is proposing a plan for police reform that it hopes county and city municipalities will submit to the state.
This comes after Governor Cuomo s executive order this past summer that requires municipalities to adopt a plan by April 1 to be eligible for future state funding. Community mistrust of police is at an all-time high. The community s assessment and perception of police are based on how they re treated by the police, as well as on the outcome of interactions, said UCLM president Rev. Lewis Stewart.