ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Two Rochester police officers have been suspended without pay in connection with the police brutality case of Christopher Pate.
Rochester Police Department Chief Michael Ciminelli has said that this is a failure by the police department.
Mayor Lovely Warren along with city council and the police chief have reviewed body cam footage of the incident and have sent the case to district attorney’s office. They will decide whether to press charges against the two officers.
The two veteran police officers are being accused of using excessive force on Pate May 5 on Fulton Avenue.
According to the police chief, the pair stopped Pate because he matched the description of a wanted suspect.
Based on body cam footage the chief says they assaulted Pate and made an arrest that should not have been made.
Mayor Warren has since apologized to the community and is moving forward with trying to remove the two officers from the force.
“I've seen the footage, and what I saw not only angered me and troubled me, but it hurt me to my heart. Because my grandparents moved here in 1964 from Kingstree, South Carolina and my grandfather was falsely arrested before leaving, saying that he owed money and imprisoned and my family came up with the money to get him out of jail to give him an opportunity,” said Warren. “I do want to say on a personal level that this was a tremendous failure of two police officers to honor the rights that all our citizens should enjoy, every member of this community deserves the protection of the Rochester police department and we failed to protect that individual that day.”
The body camera footage has been said to be so disturbing that it will not be released yet because of legal reasons.
The two officers face termination and will answer to that request at a scheduled hearing.