'Disturbing' video footage leads to officer suspension
A Rochester police officer has been suspended with pay after what the mayor described as "disturbing" body-worn camera footage that allegedly showed him choking a handcuffed suspect last week in the East End.
The case involves a 27-year veteran of the department, and marks the third city officer this week to be placed on leave over allegations of excessive force.
The other case involved a Sunday night traffic stop caught on video in northwest Rochester that showed officers removing a man from his dirt bike, then throwing him to the ground. Both officers were suspended with pay. Separately on Friday, City Council announced plans to launch its own investigation into the alleged officer beating of a local teenager last August, and the review process that cleared officers in that case of any wrongdoing.
"We will not tolerate when protocol has not been followed. We will not tolerate when people are not doing the right thing," Mayor Lovely Warren said during a Friday news conference announcing the latest officer's suspension. "People will be held accountable."
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Warren also expressed confidence in Police Chief Michael Ciminelli and the department as a whole. It was a fine line, as the mayor is seeking re-election and campaigning on claims that her administration has rebuilt the relationship between RPD and the community.
The latest suspension stemmed from police response to a large fight on East Avenue near Alexander Street around 2 a.m. April 14. Police last week said numerous officers broke up the fight and dispersed the crowd. In all, 42 officers filed 79 video files from the incident, at least two or three others also caught the incident.
Several people were arrested, including the individual in question, who was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
Few other details of the arrest were released. The matter occurred in a parking lot at night, officials said, making the video dark and hard to see.
"I was troubled by what I heard," said City Council President Loretta Scott, who was briefed on the matter and saw the video Friday morning.
There was "no over-the-top rhetoric from the officer," Scott said. Rather, he is heard telling a relatively young man to, "stop, stop moving." But Scott said, "it was the sound of the young man, when he was held, that bothered me," as it sounded like the man was having difficulty breathing.
"The video is disturbing," Warren said during a news conference earlier in the day, announcing the officer's suspension. "It does appear the individual was handcuffed and choked. ... His civil rights could have been violated."
Ciminelli declined to say whether the officer filed a required report documenting use of force or suspect resistance.
Warren first learned of the matter when the individual who allegedly was choked messaged her on Facebook. She saw the message this week, relaying the matter to Ciminelli on Tuesday. As he was looking into it, an RPD lieutenant doing a routine review of body camera footage flagged the file for internal affairs, officials said. Ciminelli said the video since has been forwarded to the FBI.
In a statement, FBI spokeswoman Maureen Dempsey said investigators were briefed by Ciminelli on Friday and "are in regular contact with the Rochester Police Department. If, in the course of sharing information, details come to light of a potential federal civil rights violation, the FBI will investigate."
Left out of the conversation, it appears, has been the police officers union.
"We were left completely in the dark on this," said union President Mike Mazzeo, who was out of town Friday but learned of the news conference from a reporter, and sent a representative. "I've seen no video ... had no contact from the chief. We're still going through this, trying to figure out who is even involved, what is involved."
Warren cast the various city actions as sending the right message to citizens regarding oversight. And mayoral challenger and former city Police Chief James Sheppard said much the same. The City Council investigation is "part of the process," he said, and it appeared through the officer suspensions and internal reviews that appropriate steps were being taken to address concerns in the other recent arrests.
"Things are going to happen on the street you don't have control over," he said. "The issue is how you deal with it."
But in an email to supporters Friday afternoon, mayoral challenger Rachel Barnhart questioned the flurry of activity:
"Is the Rochester Police Department suddenly having an epidemic of officers getting in trouble?" she asked. "Or have Mayor Lovely Warren and City Council realized they’d better make a show of caring about citizen complaints during an election year?"
Barnhart reiterated her call for a Police Accountability Board, which as proposed would have subpoena power, independent investigative authority, and disciplinary power. Barnhart has said she has questions about specific recommendations, while Sheppard expressed greater reservations, including the potential to interject politics into the process were the board to be elected. Warren said she supports City Council's review of the process "and reforms that they may implement."