Rochester Police officer investigated after pepper spraying mother near toddler
The officer has been placed on administrative duty after using pepper spray on a shoplifting suspect carrying her 3-year-old child in her arms.
Credit: AP
This image taken body camera video released by the Rochester, N.Y., Police Department on Friday, March 5, 2021, shows an officer struggling to subdue a woman suspected of shoplifting who tried to escape with her 3-year-old child in her arms on Feb. 22, 2021. A Rochester police officer has been placed on administrative duty after using pepper spray on the woman, authorities said Friday. (Rochester Police Department via AP)
WARNING: This video may have disturbing language and imagery. Viewer discretion is advised. Watch the additional footage here.
In a statement, RPD says the child was not pepper-sprayed or injured. The woman was issued an appearance ticket. pic.twitter.com/cz81Mxi1iD news10nbc (@news10nbc) March 5, 2021
Interim RPD Chief Cynthia Herriott-Sullivan held a briefing Friday. The chief reiterated that the child was not pepper-sprayed during the incident.
The woman was charged with trespassing because the chief says, she was instructed to leave several times and was knocking items off the shelves in Rite Aid.
.@RochesterNYPD chief says officers were dispatched for shoplifting complaint. Woman ran a/child in her arms. When chased, she was directed to put the child down which she did before pepper-spray was deployed. Officer put on administrative leave during investigation. @news10nbcpic.twitter.com/z7hNyyHDJR
Rochester Police Chief Cynthia Herriott-Sullivan speaks to reporters on March 5, 2021, about an incident in which a woman was pepper-sprayed with her 3-year-old daughter nearby. The Rochester Police Department released body camera footage Friday of a Rochester police officer pepper-spraying a woman as her 3-year old daughter looked on. The department released the video immediately after members of the city’s Police Accountability Board held a news conference to describe the video, which they said they had viewed Thursday night after receiving it from City Council President Loretta Scott. The incident took place on Portland Avenue on Feb. 22 and involved two officers whom the Police Accountability Board said played a role in the pepper-spraying of a 9-year-old girl on Harris Street three weeks earlier. The board declined to identify the officers.