▲ Rochester police officer handcuffing a nine-year-old girl to the floor


US police, this time in handcuffs a nine-year-old girl, sprinkled tear gas on her face, causing controversy.



According to the Associated Press on the 31st of last month (local time), the police in Rochester, New York, USA, received a report of a family problem on the afternoon of the 29th and mobilized, and then had a lift with a girl who refused to comply with orders.



The girl, known to have run away from home, became enraged when her mother appeared and rebelled and continued to seek her father.



As resistance repeated, police officers knocked the girl down on the street and handcuffed her behind her back.



Police officers sprayed tear gas on her face as the girl rebelled all the way to avoid riding the patrol car and suppressed it.




A total of nine people responded to the report, including police officers who were dispatched.



Controversy over abuse of public power ensued as the video recorded on the bodycam camera worn by the police officer was released through local media.



Mayor Lovely Warren Rochester said, "I also have a 10-year-old child," and "I shouldn't do this with children and babies."



Rochester police said the girl kicked police officers saying that she wanted to kill herself and kill her mother.



But Cynthia Harriet-Sullivan, Rochester Police Chief, did not go as far as advocating the response of police officers on the scene.



At a press conference, he said, "I will not say that it is right for a nine-year-old to get pepper gas," and that he will try to prevent the recurrence of the situation.



Local magazine Democrat and Chronicle quoted civil rights activists and pointed out that the Rochester police are exposed to a clear and systematic bias in the pattern of using public power against minors, especially black youth.



(Photo = Rochester police body cam video capture, Yonhap News)