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By AFP 
21h ago
WARNING: This article contains graphic videos of a minor being handcuffed and pepper sprayed by police officers. Viewer discretion is encouraged.
New York, United States – A nine-year-old black girl was handcuffed and pepper-sprayed by police in the American city of Rochester, images released Sunday showed, sparking renewed outrage at the excesses committed by the forces. of the order of the country.
Deputy Chief of Police Andre Anderson said Sunday that the girl, who has not been named, had been suffering from a serious mental health emergency and reportedly threatened to kill herself and her mother.
Officers called to the scene Friday responded by handcuffing her, before trying to force her into a car and pepper her when she resisted, body camera videos released by city police showed.
Images of police violence against African Americans, including the murder of George Floyd in May, sparked a summer of protests across the United States against racial injustice and police brutality last year.
Rochester police claimed Saturday that they were “required” to use handcuffs and the irritant against the girl for her own safety.
Mayor Lovely Warren condemned the use of force against a child and promised an internal review of the city’s policing practices.
“It is clear from the video that we have to do more to support our children and families,” he told a news conference Sunday.
“I have a 10-year-old girl, so she’s a girl, she’s a baby. This video, as a mother, is nothing you want to see.”
The incident marks the second time in a year that Rochester has come under national scrutiny for police violence against African Americans, following the murder in March of Daniel Prude, who died after police hooded him and forced him face down on the road.
The death of Prude, who was also experiencing a mental health crisis at the time of her arrest, sparked a grand jury investigation and sparked mass protests.
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