In the latest incident involving Rochester police officers, a Black mother was pepper-sprayed in front of her 3-year-old toddler during an arrest last month.
CNN reports that officers responded to a shoplifting incident on February 22. Body camera footage shows the officer confronting a woman holding her child. The woman shows the officers the contents of her purse, denying that she stole anything from the store.
The officer asks the woman to wait with him, but she runs away. The officer chases and then tackles her in a parking lot, restraining her.
The child can be seen wandering around and crying during the struggle until another officer arrives and takes the child.
“The child was not pepper-sprayed or injured during the arrest,” the Rochester Police Department said in a statement. “The female was charged with trespassing and given an appearance ticket.”
The officer involved in the scuffle has been placed on administrative duty while an investigation is carried out, the outlet reports.
The Rochester Police Department has been the subject of criticism since Daniel Prude’s death last year. Prude died in police custody while suffering a mental health crisis. In May of 2020, a 10-year-old girl was handcuffed during a traffic stop.
In January of this year, the department came under fire after Rochester officers handcuffed and pepper-sprayed a 9-year-old girl while responding to a report of “family trouble.”
The Police Academy Accountability Board calls for sweeping changes in the Rochester Police Department, saying the department should “fundamentally change its organizational culture.”
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