A January 29 incident involving the New York police force and a nine-year-old girl attracted national attention and growing condemnation toward those in blue. An 11-minute clip made public shortly after the encounter displayed an officer inflicting pepper spray upon a child who, clearly in distress, refused to remain in the back of a police car. Between racking sobs and desperate pleas for her father, the girl begged the man not to spray her, to which he mercilessly responded, “You did it to yourself, hon”. An extended body-camera video, released according to Mayor Lovely Warren’s pledge to “[be] transparent and [share] all of the information”, offered a look at the full extent of the officers’ disgusting treatment towards the girl and incited criticism from both government officials and American civilians.  

Nine officers had responded to the scene, answering a call about family trouble; the video demonstrates one officer taking a woman’s complaint about her boyfriend having driven off in her truck. At that point, the nine-year-old girl (presumably the daughter) had run down the street and appeared to be in distress, which the officer originally tried to subdue with calming posture and language; chaos erupted as the mother arrived by her daughter’s side, moving to strike the child and challenging the driver of a passing vehicle to a fight. Attempting to restrain the child with handcuffs, several police personnel struggled to get her in the back of a police car, soon adopting a menacing tone when she profusely revolted. “Listen to me – you’re going to get sprayed if you don’t get in”, “I’m done telling you”, “This is your last chance, or pepper spray is going into your eyeballs,” they said. This is how a nine-year-old child, clearly distraught, was addressed by the ‘friendly’ officers in blue, who later did not exercise any empathy or constraint when spraying her directly in the eyes with pepper spray. Following this altercation, a Rochester newspaper estimated that it took about 15 minutes for an ambulance to arrive and 23 minutes for one of the handcuffs she had been placed in to be removed. Donald Thompson, the lawyer of the girl’s family, responded on their behalf with extreme disgust, and rightfully so: “The lack of humanity is amazing.” Michael Mazzeo, president of the union representing Rochester’s police force, defended the officers’ actions as justifiable in that difficult situation, while Mayor Warren is seeking changes to New York State law to would allow for more immediate action to discipline officers “in cases like this one.” Vice President of the Rochester City Council Willie Lightfoot expressed anger at the officers’ actions, assuring the public that one has been suspended and two have been placed on leave. “Those who act the way we see in that video should not be allowed to get a paycheck from these citizens,” Mr. Lightfoot said. Governor Andrew Cuomo addressed the incident as a demonstration of a broader problem affecting the nation: “the relationship between police and communities is damaged and needs to be fixed.”