On body cameras from Friday’s encounter – released by police over the weekend – officers had the child restrained, handcuffed her, and attempted to get her into the back of a police car as she repeatedly cried and called out to her father.
The officers responded to what police called a report of “family troubles” during a meeting that was sharply criticized by city officials. The incident sparked protests in the community.
Herriott-Sullivan said in a statement that the decision to remove the officers from the patrol came in response to Mayor Lovely Warren’s order to immediately suspend the three officers.
One officer has been suspended and two have been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal investigation, the statement said.
In two camera videos of the body, the police see the girl spraying pepper spray after she disobeyed orders to put her feet in the car.
The girl was transported to Rochester General Hospital, where police say she was later released.
The agents involved were suspended Monday, city officials said. CNN has contacted the police union for comment.
CNN has not been able to verify the 9-year-old’s race with authorities or family members.
At a press conference Sunday, Herriott-Sullivan said the girl’s treatment was not acceptable.
“I’m not going to stand here and tell you it’s okay for a 9-year-old to be sprayed with pepper spray. It’s not,” she said. “I don’t see that as who we are as a department, and we’re going to do the work we need to do to make sure things like this don’t happen.”
Warren said the girl reminded her of her own young daughter.
Police called to report ‘family problems’
Officers were called to a home on the afternoon of Jan. 29 to report “family problems,” Andre Anderson, deputy Rochester police chief, said Sunday.
The officers were told that the girl was “suicidal” and that she “indicated that she wanted to commit suicide and that she wanted to kill her mother,” the deputy chief explained.
The girl tried to flee from agents, Anderson said, and a video released by police shows a cop is chasing her and trying to offer help.
Afterwards, he said, her mother arrived and the camera video of the body shows the two arguing. Anderson said agents then decided to get the child out of the situation and take her to a local hospital.
But the girl refused to get into a police car, “hit around,” and kicked an officer, punching his body camera, Anderson said.
“It didn’t seem like she was opposing the agents, she was trying not to be constrained from going to the hospital,” Anderson said. “While the officers made numerous attempts to get her into the car, an officer sprayed the young child with OC spray to get her into the car.”
The body’s camera video shows the girl screaming repeatedly for her father, while being physically stopped by officers. She is seen screaming before her head is pressed against the snow-covered ground and handcuffed. A battle ensues between the girl and the cops as they try to get her into the back of a police car.
At one point an officer says, “You act like a child.”
“I am a child!” the girl replies.
Later in the video, you will see a female officer talking to the girl and finally saying, “This is your last chance or pepper spray will go into your eyeballs.” About a minute later, another officer can be heard saying, “Just spray her at this point.” The female officer shakes a can that looks like pepper spray and the child continues to scream.
The agents involved in the incident were not identified by the police, nor the child or her mother.
Anderson said on Sunday that he “made no excuses for what happened” and that the department is “engaged in a culture change.” According to Anderson, the department is reviewing many policies and wants to make changes.
Mayor Warren said she has instructed the police chief to conduct a full and thorough investigation into the incident and said she welcomes the evaluation of what happened by the city’s police accountability council.
After Monday’s suspensions of the officer, she said what happened was “just awful.”
“Unfortunately, state law and union agreement prevent me from taking more direct and serious measures,” she said.
New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a tweet Monday that her office is also investigating the incident. She called the incident “very disturbing and completely unacceptable.”
Gov. Andrew Cuomo said that in his state and across the country, the police-community relationship “clearly isn’t working.”
“Rochester has to reckon with a real police problem, and this alarming incident requires a full investigation that sends the message that this behavior is not being tolerated,” he said.
CNN’s Laura James, Eric Levenson, Saffeya Ahmed, Laura James, Sarah Jorgensen, Jessica Prater, Kristina Sgueglia, Hollie Silverman and Alec Snyder contributed to this report.