Rochester’s Police Accountability Board says it’s reviewed body-worn camera footage of a disturbing incident involving police, a shoplifting suspect and a young child on Portland Avenue.
You can see that footage here: https://www.youtube.com/embed/nzyR51_FvrA
The board said in a news conference Friday morning that the woman was pepper-sprayed in front of her 3-year-old child as she tried to run with the child to a nearby storefront. The incident happened February 22nd as the male officer attempted to arrest the woman he believed may have stolen items from a drug store.
The officer was checking the woman’s purse when she ran, and was tackled and pepper sprayed. Another officer then arrived and tried to pull the child away from her mother.
Police then placed the woman in the back of a patrol car and confronted a bystander who was filming the scene, telling the bystander to, “Shut the hell up and get out of here.”
One officer says a call was made to the Family and Crisis Intervention Team, but another officer says “they’re not even logged in yet.” The officers then discussed using police cars to block the scene from public view. No crisis team appears to arrive before the officers drive the woman away in a police car.
The Police Accountability Board says there are disturbing parallels between this incident and the one a few weeks earlier on Harris Street in which a 9-year-old was pepper sprayed. They say officers in both incidents did nothing to de-escalate the situation and intimidated bystanders filming the incident. They say the two officers involved in this incident were also involved in the Harris Street incident.
The PAB has been investigating Rochester police policies and procedures involved in the earlier pepper spraying incident. They say the city is not providing them with the training manuals and written directives for use of the Person in Crisis and Crisis Intervention Teams that they’ve asked for.
They say the RPD needs to fundamentally change its organizational culture.
Police have responded in a statement, saying:
On February 22, 2021 at approximately 4:30pm officers responded to the area of 535
Portland Avenue for the report of a female shoplifter who was arguing with store
employees and refusing to leave.
Once on scene, officers approached a female who matched the description from the
initial call. During the investigation and interaction between the officer and the female,
a struggle ensued and the female was pepper sprayed and arrested. While this was
taking place, her young child was on scene and with her. The child was not pepper
sprayed or injured during the arrest.
The female was charged with trespassing and given an appearance ticket. The officer has
been placed on administrative duty until an internal investigation has been completed.
A link to the video of this arrest can be found at: https://youtu.be/nzyR51_FvrA