Page 28 - bon-dia-aruba-20210201

A28 u.s. news
Dialuna 1 Februari 2021

Videos show Rochester officers pepper-spraying 9-year-old

(AP) — Police in Roch- face, the department said Sat-
ester released two body- urday.
camera videos Sunday At Sunday’s news confer-
of officers restraining a ence, Police Chief Cynthia
distraught 9-year-old girl Herriott-Sullivan described
who was handcuffed and the irritant as pepper spray.
sprayed with what police She declined to defend the
called a chemical “irri- officers’ actions.
tant.” “I’m not going to stand here
and tell you that for a 9-year-
The Democrat and Chroni- old to have to be pepper-
cle reported that prior to the sprayed is OK. It’s not,” Her-
release of the videos, Roch- riott-Sullivan said. “I don’t
ester Mayor Lovely Warren see that as who we are as a
expressed her concern for department, and we’re going
the “child that was harmed to do the work we have to do
during this incident that hap- to ensure that these kinds of
pened on Friday.” things don’t happen.”
Police said the girl was even-
“I have a 10-year-old child, tually taken to Rochester
so she’s a child, she’s a baby. General Hospital, “where she
This video, as a mother, is father as the officers try to re- Officers tried to force the of the custodial parent on received the services and care
not anything you want to strain her. girl into a patrol car but she scene,” the child was hand- that she needed,” and was lat-
see,” Warren went on to say. At a news conference Sunday, pulled away and kicked at cuffed and put in the back of er released to her family.
A total of nine officers and Deputy Police Chief Andre them. In a statement Satur- a police car as they waited for The Rochester Police Depart-
supervisors responded to the Anderson described the girl day, the police department an ambulance to arrive. ment has faced scrutiny since
report of “family trouble” on as suicidal. said this action “required” an Police said the girl disobeyed the death of Daniel Prude
Friday. The girl can be heard officer to take the girl down commands to put her feet in last year after officers from
in the body-camera videos “She indicated she wanted to to the ground. Then, the de- the car. An officer was then the department put a hood
from officers at the scene kill herself and she wanted to partment said, “for the mi- “required” to spray an “irri- over his head and pressed his
screaming frantically for her kill her mom,” he said. nor’s safety and at the request tant” in the handcuffed girl’s face into the pavement.

Super Bowl week helps ‘shine a light’ on

human trafficking

IJM is based in Washington, with 21 field offices for the Tampa branch of Homeland Security In-
in 13 countries dedicated to the work. The Austra- vestigations.
lia-based Walk Free Foundation has estimated that “I think that we have a very good, robust plan to-
40 million people are victims of modern slavery day,” Sibley said. “When I first got into this 25 years
worldwide. According to the U.S. State Depart- ago, we literally had no idea what we were doing.”
ment, there are about 25 million humans being Much of HSI’s work involves faceless victims, but
trafficked around the globe. That means people human trafficking cases can be emotionally drain-
forced to perform work for an exploiter’s benefit. ing for even those with the most steely of demean-
(AP) – One night when Kirk Cousins was 16, Many of those victims are being trafficked specifi- ors. Victims rarely realize they are victims, said Sib-
as he listened to a presentation at his family’s cally for sex, often sold up to 20 times per day. One ley, as he cited a prior case as a sobering example.
church in Michigan, he learned for the first in four is a child. “Despite the fact that the trafficker and his friends
time about the worldwide atrocity of human “What we need to do is wake people up and bring had raped the victim numerous times, despite the
trafficking. light to it to realize it’s taking place,” Cousins said. fact that he had beaten her, despite the fact that he
I find when you shine a light on darkness, the dark- had shoved a gun in her face and other places, dur-
Millions of those victims are younger than Cousins ness has to back off.” ing sentencing she actually testified on his behalf
was then. The bright light is on this week with the staging of and told him she loved him,” Sibley said. “So traf-
“I just remember being kind of struck to the core Super Bowl 55. fickers have a very, very powerful hold over their
and being convicted and thinking, ‘What can I do?’” High-profile events that draw big-spending, out- victims.”
the Minnesota Vikings quarterback said this week. of-town visitors, even during a pandemic that has Those powerful feelings can also be used for good.
Eight years later, Cousins found an answer to his curtailed the crowd sizes and party scene, are natu- Former NFL running back Donald Brown is now
prayer for opportunity to help: a career in the NFL. ral targets for traffickers. In Atlanta t wo years ago, the director of partnerships for IJM’s Team Free-
As a rookie with Washington in 2012, he was in- the FBI reported that an 11-day pre-Super Bowl dom, inspired to join after learning about child sex
vited by a teammate to attend a benefit for the In- operation yielded the arrests of 169 people, includ- trafficking at a conference for pro athletes while he
ternational Justice Mission. The dots quickly con- ing 26 alleged traffickers, and the rescues of nine was still playing.
nected in his mind. juvenile victims. “At the time, I was living in a complete bubble,”
That speaker Cousins remembered hearing in high The NFL highlights several local organizations at Brown said. “It just pulled on my heartstrings.”
school? His name was Gary Haugen, the found- the Super Bowl site each year as part of communi- Raising children, naturally, has made the cause feel
er of IJM, a Christian organization that works to ty-building efforts, and one grant went to the Hill- even more pressing, as Cousins recently reflected
stop trafficking and abuse of the poor around the sborough County Commission on Human Traf- in a conversation with his wife about their 3-year-
world by rescuing and restoring victims, holding ficking. With Florida ranking third among U.S. old son.
perpetrators accountable, and strengthening justice states in volume of human trafficking victims, this “I know someday Cooper’s going to go to school
systems. That event further stoked the passion in is a high-priority issue. and someone’s going to make fun of him. Some-
Cousins to join the cause. Over the last two decades, Congress has provided one’s going to criticize him. Someone’s going to
This year, IJM was picked by the Tampa Bay area law enforcement agencies more tools for specifi- bully him. That’s part of life, but that would just
host committee for Super Bowl 55 to support an- cally charging human trafficking crimes. Collabo- infuriate me,” Cousins said. “So you can imagine
ti-trafficking efforts. Cousins, as part of IJM’s pro ration between municipal, county, state and federal all the more someone actually trafficking him.
athlete group Team Freedom, has taken a lead role authorities has increased, and non-governmental It’s hard to even go there, but it just explains the
in helping raise awareness. Other NFL players in- organizations such as IJM and its peers have been level of darkness, the fact that this is happening in
volved include Zach Ertz, Trey Burton, Jason Mc- included in the process to enhance victim support, the millions, and the fact that something must be
Courty and Devin McCourty. said Kevin Sibley, the acting special agent in charge done.”