A Rochester woman is suing the city’s Police Department, alleging an officer kneed and punched her 13-year-old son, knocking out his tooth during an arrest.
The case marks the fourth excessive force lawsuit filed against Officer Mitchell Leach in the past 30 months. There were a total of 15 federal lawsuits filed against RPD in that time.
Jasmine Ofray alleges her son, Chavo McGuire, was kneed in the face and punched multiple times by Officer Mitchell Leach on July 17 of last year. McGuire was a backseat passenger in a Hyundai sedan being chased by police. The vehicle was allegedly reported stolen and involved with a menacing with a handgun incident.
The chase ended when the Hyundai crashed at the Hudson Avenue Walmart, and the four teenagers inside ran into the store.
McGuire, the complaint reads, was quickly restrained by two New York State troopers inside the Walmart.
That is when Leach allegedly “ran and slid directly into McGuire’s head, intentionally kneeing McGuire in the face and then proceeded to punch the fully restrained and defenseless McGuire in and about the head with a closed fist,” the complaint reads.
McGuire was taken by ambulance to Rochester General Hospital, where he was treated for bruises on his face and a knocked-out tooth. Police arrested McGuire for possession of stolen property. The charge was later dismissed.
RPD has faced continued scrutiny for its dealings with juveniles. The issue flared most recently after a series of cases in 2020-21 during whichpolice handcuffed a 10-year-old, pepper-sprayed a 9-year-old and tackled and pepper-sprayed a mother with her 3-year-old child.
The state Attorney General’s Office has an ongoing investigation into RPD’s use of force incidents, particularly those involving minors. And the Rochester Police Accountability Boardreleased a report earlier this month finding that, over the span of 18 months, the officers used force in 318 encounters with minors – 78% of whom were Black children.
The most common varieties of force used were “ground control” techniques, display of weapons, and takedowns. The most common reason for calls were mental health, at 30% of cases, followed by robberies at 15%, and active fights at 12%.
A public forum on the PAB’s report is scheduled for Thursday evening.
Ofray’s complaint alleges that she was notified of McGuire’s arrest and injuries after he was hospitalized at Rochester General Hospital.
In a phone call, Ofray’s attorney Mark Young alleged Leach struck McGuire at least eight times. Young pointed to a spike in vehicle thefts in 2023 – nearly 4,000 were reported in the city, most of those involving Kias and Hyundais - and suggested McGuire was subject to retaliation for a crime spree the department was unable to address.
“The fact that these kids were kind of making a mockery of cops, they figured they’d deal out their own punishment,” Young said.
Young alleged the officers “were hyped up” and charged everyone in the car without giving any benefit of the doubt that the passengers even knew the vehicle was stolen.
Leach, 28, joined the Rochester Police Department in September 2018. He has one disciplinary record on file, a 2021 incident in which he rear-ended a vehicle on Clinton Avenue.
However, the McGuire complaint is the fourth time Leach has been named as a defendant in federal lawsuits since 2021.
In those other cases, Leach is accused of shooting and killing a pit bull that allegedly was biting his ankle. He was inside a house with a 1-year-old present at the time, the lawsuit states.
In another, he and another officer allegedly beat a father and son during a traffic stop. The father sustained a concussion and broken teeth, records show. Police originally stopped the vehicle thinking it had stolen plates but never brought those charges, instead jailing the father for resisting arrest. In the third lawsuit, Leach is named alongside other officers accused of using excessive force when responding to social justice protests in 2020.
Those earlier lawsuits were brought by attorneys Elliot Shields and Nate McMurray. Both are prolific filers of civil rights and police complaints.
Geoff Wiater, president of the Rochester Police Locust Club union, declined to comment on the complaints, which is its standard practice with pending litigation. A request for comment from the city of Rochester was not immediately returned, although the city typically does not comment on pending litigation.
In her complaint, Ofray is asking for $1 million from the Rochester Police Department. She is alleging civil rights violations, misconduct from Leach, improper training, and improper hiring and retention of officers by the department due to repeated complaints against Leach.
The complaint alleges McGuire continues to “suffer from extreme emotional distress” because of the incident, as well as a fear of police.
