New Footage Emerges Of Police Officers Pepper Spraying 9-Year-Old Girl
A video of two police officers in New York pepper-spraying and handcuffing a nine-year-old girl emerged last week, and new bodycam footage now sheds further light on what happened.
After an incident occurred in a family home in Rochester on January 29, police officers chased down a young girl who had ‘indicated that she wanted to kill herself and she wanted to kill her mom’. However, the police assistance turned violent as they handcuffed and pepper-sprayed the emotionally distressed nine-year-old after she did not get in a car.
The original report of the incident can be seen below.
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A new piece of bodycam footage reveals more information about what happened during the incident. The footage covers 30 minutes and contextualises the 11-minute video the public first saw.
Despite the distressing content, Mayor Lovely Warren released the footage saying that they were ‘committed to being transparent and sharing all of the information and video regarding this incident’.
You can watch the new footage here:
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Perhaps the most concerning moment of the exchange to emerge in the extended footage is when the nine-year-old was surrounded by police officers and the conversation about spraying the girl took place. The New York Times noted the conversations that were revealed in the new footage.
An officer warned ‘Listen to me – you’re going to get sprayed if you don’t get in,’ while another said, ‘Get in the car’. Shortly after, an officer states, ‘I’m done telling you. I’m going to pepper-spray you, and I don’t want to.’ The young girl pleaded ‘Please don’t,’ but after not getting into the car an officer says ‘just spray her’ before the girl screams ‘my eye is bleeding’.
4 months agoAfter the child was placed in the car, she was taken to Rochester General Hospital to have her injuries treated. Two of the police officers have now been suspended on the back of the incident. However, many are shocked by the lengthy footage that draws into question the practices of the police.
Donald Thompson, a lawyer for the girl’s family, said the new video was ‘far more disturbing’ than the earlier footage, and also noted that ‘the lack of humanity is amazing’.
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