Rochester Police Pepper Spray A 9 Year Old Freaking Out During Wild Incident

Police in New York state released two bodycam videos on Sunday that showed officers restraining a distraught 9-year-old girl who was handcuffed and later sprayed with a chemical "irritant" when she disobeyed commands.

The release of the video footage by the Rochester Police Department came after Mayor Lovely Warren emotionally expressed her concern for the “child that was harmed during this incident that happened on Friday.”

In the videos, the girl can be heard repeatedly and frantically screaming for her father as officers try to restrain her after responding to a call for "family trouble" on Friday afternoon. A total of nine officers and RPD supervisors ended up responding to the call, police said.

At a Sunday press conference, Deputy Police Chief Andre Anderson described the girl as suicidal.

"She indicated she wanted to kill herself and she wanted to kill her mom,” he said.

In one of the videos, an officer can be heard asking the girl, “What is going on? How can I help?”

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USA TODAY logoRochester, New York, police release bodycam videos to show why officers were 'required' to handcuff, pepper-spray 9-year-old girl

Police in New York state released two bodycam videos on Sunday that showed officers restraining a distraught 9-year-old girl who was handcuffed and later sprayed with a chemical "irritant" when she disobeyed commands.

a passenger seat of a car: Rochester police body cam footage was released Sunday.© Video still Rochester police body cam footage was released Sunday.
The release of the video footage by the Rochester Police Department came after Mayor Lovely Warren emotionally expressed her concern for the “child that was harmed during this incident that happened on Friday.”


“I have a 10-year-old child, so she’s a child, she’s a baby," Warren said. "This video, as a mother, is not anything you want to see.”

In the videos, the girl can be heard repeatedly and frantically screaming for her father as officers try to restrain her after responding to a call for "family trouble" on Friday afternoon. A total of nine officers and RPD supervisors ended up responding to the call, police said.

At a Sunday press conference, Deputy Police Chief Andre Anderson described the girl as suicidal.

"She indicated she wanted to kill herself and she wanted to kill her mom,” he said.

In one of the videos, an officer can be heard asking the girl, “What is going on? How can I help?”

When officers then tried to put the girl into the back of a patrol car, she pulled away and kicked at them.

In a statement Saturday, police said the girl's actions “required” an officer to take her to the ground, adding that “for the minor’s safety and at the request of the custodial parent on scene,” the child was handcuffed and put in the back of a police car as they waited for an ambulance.

An officer was “required” to spray an “irritant” in the handcuffed girl’s face when she disobeyed commands to put her feet in the car, police said Saturday.

Police Chief Cynthia Herriott-Sullivan on Sunday described the irritant as pepper spray.