A 9-year-old girl who was sprayed with pepper spray by police in Rochester, New York last month, pleaded, “Officer, please don’t do this to me” as she waited handcuffed in the backseat of a police cruiser. Camera video of the police station released on Thursday.
“You did it to yourself, honey,” replies a female officer in the front seat.
The nearly 90-minute video is a compilation of edited footage from officers’ cameras. Police have previously said that officers responded to a report of ‘family problems’.
In the expanded video of the January 29 incident, the girl can be heard sobbing, wailing, and saying repeatedly, “I want my dad.” She also tells police that her handcuffs are too tight and her eyes are burning. She asks several times when an ambulance comes to take the pepper spray from her eyes and begs to have the handcuffs removed. An officer can hear her say an ambulance is on its way.
“If you put your head to the window, the cold air will feel nice,” an officer tells her.
“It burns too much,” says the girl.
‘It must burn. It’s called pepper spray, ‘an officer responds.
An ambulance arrived about 15 minutes after the girl was sprayed with pepper spray, the Democrat and Chronicle, a Rochester newspaper, estimated. The newspaper said more than 23 minutes passed before one of the handcuffs she was placed in was removed.
The new video is from various agents’ body cameras and was edited to blur the girl’s face. Mayor Lovely Warren had said she would release all video from the body cameras after they were redacted.
“We are committed to being transparent and sharing all information and video about this incident and all our investigations with the community,” Warren said in a statement Thursday. “I continue to share our community’s outrage over the treatment of this child and have made sure that she and her family are connected to the support they need through our Person in Crisis team.”
The recently released video provides a fuller picture of the incident that has attracted international attention and renewed attention for a controversial police station. Police officers’ dealings with a child in need have sparked local protests and calls for immediate reform of the police force. The officers’ actions have been condemned by Warren, New York Attorney General Letitia James, and Governor Andrew Cuomo.
Rochester police are under investigation for the death of Daniel Prude in police custody last year. The police handcuffed Prude, a black man, put a spit cap on his head and pressed him to the ground. The body camera in Prude’s case was released six months after his death, only after his family sued the city. It showed Prude, who was suffering from mental health problems, handcuffed and naked with a spit hood over his head.
Cuomo said the videos released Thursday were “even more shocking and disturbing” than previous footage of the meeting.
“This is symptomatic of a broader problem: the relationship between police and communities is damaged and needs to be restored,” he said in a statement. “Officers are sworn to protect and serve and this heinous behavior can never be tolerated.”
A police spokesperson, Captain Mark Mura, said on Friday that nine officers responded to the scene, four of whom were “actively involved with the 9-year-old.” One officer was suspended and three others were given administrative leave, he said.
Officers responded to a report of “ family problems, ” Deputy Police Chief Andre Anderson said Jan. 31. Officers were informed that a 9-year-old ‘girl’ indicated that she wanted to kill herself and that she wanted to kill her mother. and that she initially tried to run, Anderson said.
Images released days after the incident show authorities handcuffed the girl as she repeatedly screamed for her father and refused to enter the vehicle.
In the video, agents can be heard saying they would pepper spray her if she continued to resist.
The girl’s mother, Elba Pope, previously told NBC News that she called the police during an argument with her husband. Pope said she would sue the city and the police. She has filed a claim.
“No one who would treat a 9-year-old child like this should be in the police force to help anyone,” she said.
Her lawyer, Donald Thompson, said on Friday that Pope had seen the new video, which he described as “disturbing and disgusting,” and that she was traumatized again.
Thompson said, “It makes one wonder, What kind of adult thinks their only option in such a situation is to pepper spray a 9-year-old child?”
“It’s more of the same,” he said. “It makes so much clearer that the Rochester Police Department has some significant problems with recruiting, hiring and training its officers and their ability to respond appropriately to potential mental health situations.”
