Mayor Lovely Warren Says Bodycam Shows Lack of Compassion and Empathy

Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren says the bodycam footage of an agitated girl being pepper-sprayed by police shows police need more compassion and empathy.

The 9-year-old girl had been handcuffed and was being put in the back of a police car.

Police say they were putting the girl into the car for her own safety after her mother said the girl was planning self-harm.

Rochester police union president Mike Mazzeo says using pepper spray might not have been the best way to calm the girl down, but he doesn't know how anyone could have handled it any better.

Interim police Chief Cynthia Herriott-Sullivan has been directed by the mayor to conduct a full investigation and Rochester's Police Accountability Board is conducting its own investigation and is asking for unredacted body cam video and all other reports.

Mazzeo says there's no evidence that any police policies were violated.


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