‘Let’s Be Realistic’: Rochester Police Union Head Defends Pepper-Spraying 9-Year-Old Girl

After body camera footage of Rochester police pepper-spraying and handcuffing a 9-year-old girl was released Sunday, the head of the police union sprung to his officers’ defense. “It’s very very difficult to get somebody into the back of a police car like that. And she’s 9 years old. Imagine what happens when we have a full grown individual,” Mike Mazzeo, the police union’s president, said. “I’m not saying there’s not better ways to do things, but let’s be realistic here in what we’re facing,” he added, perhaps not realizing the irony of his earlier hypothetical. At a press conference Sunday, deputy police chief Andre Anderson said officers reported to the home because the girl “indicated she wanted to kill herself and she wanted to kill her mom.” Later on Monday, the city announced that the police officers involved in the call had been suspended, pending an internal investigation.