Rochester, New York, is reckoning with another case of police brutality after the release of a disturbing body camera video released Sunday.
On Friday, police responded to a report of "family trouble" at a home in the city, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports. The mother of a nine-year-old girl said the child was threatening to harm herself and others, Deputy Police Chief Andre Anderson said at a press conference. Video appears to show that police eventually took the girl to the ground, handcuffed her, and then pepper sprayed her when she refused to put her feet in the patrol car.
After police catch up with the girl, video shows her being taken to the snowy ground. She tells the police officer to "get off of me," but he says he will not. She is eventually handcuffed, and constantly screams that she wants to see her dad as police try to get her in the car. Police eventually get the girl seated with her feet outside the car, but while one officer says they'll get her father, others tell her they "don't care" what she wants. At one point, the officers tell the girl she's "acting like a child," to which she responds "I am a child." An officer is then heard saying "just spray her at this point," and someone seems to spray a chemical irritant in her face.
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Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren has yet to promise any concrete changes after the video's release, but asked "everybody to understand, to hear, listen, empathize, most of all, to act differently." Activists with Free the People Roc are meanwhile demanding the officers be fired.
Daniel Prude, a 41-year-old Black man, died of asphyxiation in Rochester police custody last March after police put a spit hood over his head. Prude's killing sparked protests in September after body camera footage of the incident was released. The city created a mental health crisis team after Prude's death, but Warren said they were dispatched elsewhere during this recent call.
