The family of Rochester teenager Ricky Bryant is calling for a criminal investigation of claims that he was beaten, kicked and tasered by five city police officers last year. The Rochester Police Department released its nine-month investigation into the incident last month, and found the officers acted within the department’s policies.
The Reverend Lewis Stewart of United Christian Leadership Ministries says that’s “disgraceful, unjust and a blatant coverup.” His mother, Angela Bryant, wants the Monroe County District Attorney, the New York Attorney General and the FBI to investigate the RPD’s conduct. She says her son had broken bones around an eye socket after the confrontation, and they didn’t come from being pepper sprayed.
Ricky Bryant got into a confrontation with police while leaving last year’s Puerto Rican Festival. Police were looking for an armed teen riding a bike, but that wasn’t Bryant.
The patrol officer’s union maintains the teenager failed to obey police orders.