Caught on camera: N.Y. police pepper spray 9-year-old girl

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC/NBC) – New York’s Rochester Police Department released body camera footage Sunday of an officer using pepper spray on a 9-year-old girl during a family trouble call Friday afternoon.

The incident occurred after police responded to a family trouble call.

The child was placed in handcuffs after talking with officers and placed in the back seat of a patrol car while officers waited for an ambulance to arrive. After the 9-year-old refused to put her feet inside the vehicle, she was sprayed.

During a press conference Sunday, Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren expressed her disappointment with the video and said that we need to do more to support children and families that are going through mental health crises.

“This is not something that any of us should want to justify, can justify, this is something we have to change. It’s not an option. We must change how we do business, how we treat people. We have to understand, that they at the very core are human beings and we must treat each other as we want to be treated, as we want our loved ones to be treated,” Warren said.