Elba Pope, a woman in Rochester, NY, whose nine-year-old daughter was handcuffed by police this week and sprayed with pepper spray, said she told officers her daughter had a mental health crisis but was being ignored.
Pope said she told officers that her daughter was breaking in and begged them to bring in a trained specialist instead of keeping her, but according to The Washington Post, they refused. Mayor Lovely Warren (D) said Monday three officers will be suspended in connection with the incident.
Lawyers for Pope have filed a formal notice to sue the city for ’emotional distress, assault, battery, excessive violence, false arrest, false imprisonment’, according to the newspaper. The camera footage shows Pope’s daughter sobbing as police try to force her handcuffed into a car.
Pope said she initially called police to file a report on the possible theft of her car, but that her daughter fled the house crying when they arrived. She said her daughter had experienced a similar crisis in November, requiring her to be evaluated in a hospital under state law, and that she could immediately say that a mental health specialist was needed.
“It just so happened that she chose the moment to run out of the house, and I was like, ‘Oh, my God, here we go,'” Pope said. “I had to fetch the officer and say, ‘Sir, I know my daughter, and she’s about to have a slowdown in mental health, can you contact someone? ‘
Lorenzo Napolitano, a lawyer for Pope, noted that Rochester police were involved in a similar response to a mental health crisis last March.
Daniel T. Prude, a black man who ran naked through the street amid a mental health episode, was put in a ‘spit hood’ meant to keep body fluids away from the police, which then left his face for at least pushed two into the sidewalk. minute. Prude passed away on March 30 after being removed from life support.
‘This is not the first incident where Rochester police have mistreated people who have had a mental health crisis. . . and [Pope] really wants to see change, ”Napolitano said according to the newspaper.