Black EMT Handcuffed By NY Cop For Bumping His Car With Ambulance Door

ROCHESTER, NY — A Rochester police investigator was placed on paid leave this week after he was captured on video handcuffing a Black EMT for bumping his car with an ambulance door, according to a report.

The incident happened July 11 at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, according to a statement by the Rochester Police Department. The police investigator's car was parked in the ambulance bay when it was hit by the EMT as she was getting out to unload a patient, NBC affiliate WHEC reported.

The investigator reportedly asked her for identification, but the EMT insisted on taking her patient inside the hospital first, WHEC reported. The investigator asked again, but she continued to take the patient inside.

The video obtained by WHEC shows the investigator follow her into the hospital. He approached her at the check-in desk, pulled her arms behind her back and handcuffed her before forcefully taking her outside.

The EMT was later identified as Lekia Smith, according a WROC report.

The investigator initially was placed on administrative assignment, according to Rochester police. The agency has also launched an internal investigation.

Police have not identified the investigator.

Rochester Police Chief David Smith released a statement following the incident:

“I have high expectations for all members of the Rochester Police Department. Obviously, this incident is deeply concerning to me," Strong said in the statement. "As Chief, I demand the members of the Rochester Police Department perform their duties in a professional manner. And as such, we must hold ourselves to a high standard of accountability."

The Locust Club, a union representing Rochester police officers, called the department's decision to suspend the investigator "perplexing."

"The incident in question reached a mutually acceptable resolution that day when both the investigator and the EMT were able to jointly discuss the reasons for their actions, and both accepted each other's explanations," the organization's statement read.

Meanwhile, Smith has hired a lawyer and intends to file a lawsuit against the police department, NBC News reported. In response to The Locust Club's statement, her attorney said, "The boldness of that lie is jaw-dropping."

Smith "was handcuffed while attempting to care for her patient, forcefully led to a police car and placed, still handcuffed in the locked back seat area of the car, at which time the investigator got into the backseat with her and proceeded to lecture her about why he was right, she was in the wrong, and his (over the top) response was necessary as a result of her actions," attorney Donald Thompson told NBC News.

"They never came to any agreement about any of this. Any statement to the contrary is unequivocally and intentionally false," Thompson continued.