Statement from Attorney General James on Disturbing Incident Involving the Rochester Police Department

ROCHESTER – New York Attorney General Letitia James released the following statement in response to members of the Rochester Police Department arresting and pepper spraying a nine-year-old girl over the weekend:

“What happened in Rochester on Friday is deeply disturbing and wholly unacceptable. Such use of force and pepper spray should never be deployed against a child, period. My office is looking into what transpired and how a child was ever subjected to such danger. It’s clear that drastic reform is needed at the Rochester Police Department to ensure that mental health professionals and child advocates are actually responding to people in need and when minors are involved, and that this type of behavior never occurs again.”