rochester police department

The Rochester Police Accountability Board has retained a New York City law firm in an effort to ensure the Rochester Police Department complies with the board’s requests for information during investigations.

Around the time that a Rochester police officer pulled out her pepper spray to use on a 9-year-old-girl, Mike Mazzeo, the president of the Rochester Police Locust Club union, pulled out a pen to sign a lawsuit contesting recent appointments by the police chief to the Rochester Police Department’s top brass.

Rochester Police released body camera footage Friday of a woman who was pepper-sprayed by officers on Portland Avenue last month while she was with her child. 

In a news conference Friday, the Police Accountability Board claimed the woman was also tackled, but that wasn’t clear in the video that police released.

Rochester Police say one of their officers fired his gun after an incident involving a stolen vehicle early Sunday morning.

It happened around 4:40 a.m. Sunday when, according to RPD, two officers tried to stop a stolen vehicle at 780 Dewey Ave.

Officials say that during the traffic stop, the suspect put the vehicle in reverse and struck the officer’s vehicle while the officers were standing in the open door jamb of the car. Authorities say that one officer fired at least one round from his gun, hitting the suspect’s car.

Within hours of demonstrators taking to the streets Tuesday to protest that Daniel Prude's arresting officers would not face criminal charges, social media posts alleging that some officers at the demonstration were wearing neo-Nazi symbols on their uniforms began to circulate.

Ibram X. Kendi, best-selling author and anti-racist activist, addressed recent pain and anger in Rochester over the Daniel Prude investigation during a talk on Wednesday night.

The author of "How to Be an Antiracist" gave a virtual talk as part of the University of Rochester’s 20th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Address.

Kendi commented on this week’s announcement that a grand jury will not indict the Rochester police officers involved in the incident last year where Daniel Prude suffocated and later died.