{"id":17052,"date":"2021-02-02T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-02T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=157439"},"modified":"2021-02-02T13:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-02-02T13:00:00","slug":"headlines-for-february-2-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/02\/02\/headlines-for-february-2-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Headlines for February 2, 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"
In Rochester, New York, one police officer has been suspended and two officers placed on administrative leave pending an internal investigation, after body camera video showed them handcuffing and pepper-spraying a 9-year-old girl. The video, taken last Friday, shows the officers pressing the girl face-down into the snow as she cries out for her father. One officer says \u201cYou\u2019re acting like a child,\u201d to which she responds, \u201cI am a child.\u201d When the girl refuses to sit in the back of a patrol car, an officer pepper-sprays her in the face.<\/p>\n
Rochester police union president Mike Mezzo on Sunday defended the officer\u2019s actions. <\/p>\n
\nMike Mezzo<\/strong>: \u201cHe made a decision there that he thought was the best action to take. It resulted in no injury to her.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren said Monday that state law and a police union contract prevented her from taking stronger action against the officers. She said the incident had left her community rattled. <\/p>\n
\nLovely Warren<\/strong>: \u201cI have a 10-year-old daughter so she\u2019s a child. She\u2019s a baby. I can tell you that this video is not anything that you want to see.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Last year, Mayor Warren fired Rochester\u2019s police chief La\u2019Ron Singletary after internal documents showed he sought to cover up the police killing of Daniel Prude. Prude was a 41-year-old Black man who died from asphyxiation in March after Rochester officers handcuffed him, put a hood over his head and pushed his face into the freezing cold ground for two minutes while kneeling on his back.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n