Mother of Pepper-Sprayed Girl Says Police Denied Mental Health Help For Daughter

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A frame of a video released by the Rochester Police Department on YouTube.

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Diallo Payne marches to a small protest outside Rochester Police Locust Club, the police union that represents members of the Rochester Police Department.

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America Reckons With Racial Injustice
Rochester Mayor Suspends Police Officers Who Pepper-Sprayed 9-Year-Old Girl

He added that the girl said she wanted to kill herself and her mother, and that officers at the scene «made an effort to try to secure her.

Later police attempted to move the child to a police vehicle so that she could be transferred to a hospital, Anderson said, but the child «thrashed around. He added that, in his opinion, the child did so because she did not want to be go to the hospital, not because she was resisting the officers.

Mother is suing the city

Pope is suing the city over what the lawsuit calls the police department’s «wanton, reckless and malicious conduct.

She is seeking an unspecified amount in punitive damages from the city for things including «physical injury and substantial pain, along with future health, psychological and psychiatric treatment, according to a complaint against the city that was shared with NPR.

The complaint is dated Feb. 1, the same day city officials had «removed three officers from patrol duties who were involved in the pepper spray encounter.

Interim Police Chief Cynthia Herriott-Sullivan announced two officers were placed on administrative leave, while another officer was suspended, pending the results of an internal investigation.

The names of the officers have not been made public.

The incident ignited fresh scrutiny over how law enforcement polices communities of color and handles people in the midst of mental health crises.

Rochester police came under fire last year following the death of Daniel Prude, a Black man with a history of mental illness. He died of asphyxiation after an encounter with officers.

While Prude died in March, details surrounding his death were not made public until months later, leading to protests in the city. Several members of the Rochester Police Department command staff were terminated or resigned from the department.

Rochester Police also came under fire for their handling of a minor last summer, when they put handcuffs on a 10-year-old girl during a traffic stop.

Three adults riding in the vehicle were charged with minor crimes, but the child was not, ABC affiliate WHAM-TV reported at the time. The station adds police said the girl was placed in handcuffs after she refused officers’ commands to stay away from a busy roadway and officers put restraints on her for safety reasons.

America Reckons With Racial Injustice
Protests In Rochester As Lawmakers Move To Ban Use of Chemical Irritants On Minors

Napolitano, the family attorney, said there are parallels between his client’s case and that of Prude, and that, for her, justice would include sweeping reforms in the Rochester Police Department.

«Not just some incremental changes, small changes, Napolitano said, «but to change the way our police department responds to individuals in a mental health crisis.

He said it is a question in many people’s minds about how this incident would have transpired «had this child been a different race, but adds the mother is encouraged by a bill introduced by New York state lawmakers this week that would ban the use of chemical irritants on minors.

«She would also like to see the officer that pepper sprayed this poor little girl fired, he added.

NPR’s Liz Baker contributed reporting from Rochester, N.Y.