Rochester Police Officer Michael Sippel was arraigned on a misdemeanor assault charge.. His attorney said Sippel actions were lawful. Rochester Democrat and Chronicle


The two police officers who arrested Christopher Pate — including the one now accused of assault in the arrest — made "detestable" statements with an "undercurrent of racist language" at the hospital where Pate was taken, according to a local civil rights activist.

In a statement Friday, the Rev. Lewis Stewart, the president of the United Christian Leadership Ministry,  called for the termination of the two officers, Michael Sippel and Spenser McAvoy. The two have been suspended without pay because of their May arrest of Pate, who suffered broken bones in his face.

A grand jury found enough evidence to criminally charge Sippel, but not enough for charges against McAvoy. Sippel is accused of misdemeanor assault, and pleaded not guilty in City Court on Thursday.

Stewart said in a statement that he and his allies plan to be at the trial of Sippel, now scheduled for March.

Sippel's attorney, Clark Zimmermann, said after Thursday's arraignment that Pate closely resembled a burglary suspect whom the officers were searching for. He said Pate refused to provide identification, and refused to stop when officers tried to question him.

The officers claimed that they had to restrain Pate after he responded physically when they tried to ask him questions. Pate has said that he provided identification, and was zapped by a stun gun, handcuffed and punched. He was taken to the hospital with his injuries. There, Stewart said, the police body-worn cameras picked up the comments by the officers.

"When Mr. Pate was taken to the hospital, there was an undercurrent of racist language which was directed against the victim by Sippel and his accomplice," Stewart said. "The language was detestable, horrific and unbecoming representatives of law enforcement."

Zimmermann said Sippel was professional in his actions in May.

Pate was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, but those charges were dismissed a few days later in City Court. 

"It is concerning that these are officers who were doing their job," Michael Mazzeo, the president of the Rochester Locust Club police union, said after Sippel was charged. "They were looking for a wanted suspect. They thought they had someone. What's our next step? Do we not ask our officers to look for wanted suspects?"

Mayor Lovely Warren and Michael Ciminelli, who was police chief at the time of Pate's arrest, said the video from the body-worn cameras showed the officers did not act properly during the interaction with Pate.

"This was a tremendous failure of two police officers to honor the rights all our citizens should enjoy,"  Ciminelli said.



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