Police officers involved in the pepper-spraying of a 9-year-old girl in Rochester, New York, have been suspended, the city announced Monday. The suspensions are effective immediately and will last at least until an internal police investigation is concluded.
“What happened Friday was simply horrible, and has rightly outraged, all of our community,” Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren said in a statement. “Unfortunately, state law and union contract prevents me from taking more immediate and serious action.”
Warren said she would “lead the charge” to change these laws to “allow cities to more quickly issue discipline in cases like this one.”
The officers were suspended with pay, on the condition that a suspension without pay couldn’t last more than 30 days without a concluded internal investigation, CBS affiliate WROC-TV reports. The city did not say how many officers were suspended….
