A video of police handcuffing a nine-year-old black girl and spraying her with pepper spray in Rochester, northeastern United States, sparked a new wave of outrage at the methods used by security forces in the country.
Police in that city, New York, justified their action by claiming that the girl, whose identity has not been disclosed, was in a nervous breakdown and threatened to kill her mother and commit suicide.
The officers who arrived on the scene on Friday responded by putting handcuffs on the girl and when they couldn’t get her into a patrol car, they used pepper spray, according to videos of the cameras wearing the police officers in the suit, published Sunday. by law enforcement authorities.
They claim they had to act like this to ensure the girl’s safety.
The Mayor of Rochester, African-American Lovely Warren, condemned the use of violence against children and promised an internal investigation into the practices of the city’s police force.
“I have a 10-year-old boy. It’s a boy, it’s a baby. As a mother you don’t want to see this video,” she said at a press conference on Sunday.
It is the second time in a year that Rochester Police has been accused of violence against black civilians. In March, Daniel Prude, who had fallen into a coma as a result of his arrest, died.
Police had pulled a cloth hood over his head after he spit at officers, claiming he had the coronavirus.
Prude’s death, who was also suffering from a nervous breakdown at the time of her arrest, sparked an investigation and mass demonstrations.