Tag Archives: Daniel Prude

New York grand jury votes not to indict police officers for Daniel Prude death

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A grand jury in New York state voted not to indict police officers for the death of Daniel Prude, a Black man who died of asphyxiation while in police custody in March 2020 in the city of Rochester, state Attorney General Letitia James said on Tuesday.

Prude’s family obtained body-worn camera footage of Prude’s death that showed him naked in a dark, snowy street, a so-called mesh “spit hood” placed over his head after he told officers he had contracted the novel coronavirus. The video also shows him being restrained against the ground by police.

The footage was released in September, further fueling ongoing nationwide protests against police violence following other high-profile episodes in 2020 where police killed Black men and women.

James said her office had hoped to secure indictments in the death of Prude, a 41-year-old father of five children who lived in Chicago.

“I know that the Prude family, the Rochester community and communities across the country will rightfully be disappointed this outcome,” James said at a news conference in Rochester, a city in upstate New York.

A lawyer for Prude’s family, the Rochester mayor’s office and the Rochester Police Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Prude had visited his brother and ran out of the house in the middle of the night, prompting the brother to call the police, concerned for Prude’s mental health.

Police officers found Prude naked, approached him with a stun-gun and told him to put his hands behind his back so they could handcuff him, which Prude did, according to a report by James’ office.

Soon after the video emerged last September, Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren fired Police Chief La’Ron Singletary. Seven police officers involved in the arrest were suspended.

(Reporting by Jonathan Allen; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Lisa Shumaker)

Rochester, NY police chief retiring in wake of Daniel Prude’s death

(Reuters) – Rochester Police Chief La’Ron Singletary abruptly announced his retirement on Tuesday amid growing scrutiny over the city’s handling of the arrest and investigation into the death of Daniel Prude.

“The chief has submitted his retirement papers, as well as others,” Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren told a City Council meeting on Tuesday afternoon, saying she had just been told that Singletary and his command staff would be leaving the force.

Rochester, a city of 200,000 people in northwestern New York state, erupted with protests last week after the Prude family released body camera footage from the arrest in March showing officers had used a hood and pinned Prude to the pavement to restrain him.

The protests were the latest following the May 25 death of George Floyd that reignited unrest across the United States over police violence and racial justice.

Warren acknowledged that she was still learning the facts and was unsure when the retirements would take effect.

“If that retirement is effective immediately, then we will have to find an interim chief,” she said. “I do know that it is going to be difficult to do that.”

(Reporting by Nathan Layne in Wilton, Connecticut; Editing by Chris Reese and Jonathan Oatis)

Rochester police union defends officers involved in Prude’s arrest

(Reuters) – The head of Rochester, New York’s police union on Friday defended the actions of officers involved in the March arrest of Daniel Prude, a Black man whose death triggered protests, saying they followed protocols in using a hood to restrain him.

“They had to do exactly what they did,” Rochester Police Locust Club President Michael Mazzeo told a news conference on Friday, adding that there was a “substantial amount of evidence to show why the protocols” used by the officers were employed.

Prude, a 41-year-old Black man, died after he was arrested by police in Rochester, New York, in March. The incident has become the latest flash point in a summer of civil unrest over racism and police brutality.

Prude’s family this week released body camera footage from his arrest, showing him kneeling on the ground, handcuffed and naked while a group of officers putting a hood over his head – apparently to prevent his spit from possibly transmitting the novel coronavirus. Release of the video triggered protests in the city in northern New York.

Seven police officers were suspended Thursday over the arrest.

The medical examiner has ruled Prude’s death a homicide caused by “complications of asphyxia in the setting of physical restraint.” An autopsy also cited intoxication by phencyclidine, or the drug PCP, among additional contributing factors to his death, according to the New York Times.

Separately, New York City detectives were investigating an incident in Times Square in Manhattan on Thursday evening during a protest over Prude’s death.

Video of the incident, shared widely on social media, shows a black Ford Taurus driving through a group of marchers and people on bicycles in Times Square, a major tourist destination and entertainment center in Manhattan.

New York City Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said on Friday that detectives were investigating the incident. He noted that no one has come forward with injuries and that two protesters had struck the window of the car.

“We have to interview both sides. We’d like to interview anyone that was in that vehicle, because we believe there was multiple people in that vehicle, and anyone that was on the scene,” Shea said on Fox 5’s Good Day New York.

(Reporting by Nathan Layne in Wilton, Connecticut; Editing by Dan Grebler and David Gregorio)

New York police probing motorist who drove into Times Square protesters

(Reuters) – New York City detectives are trying to determine whether a motorist who drove into a crowd of Black Lives Matter protesters in Times Square on Thursday night committed a crime, the city’s police commissioner said.

Video of the incident, shared widely on social media, shows a black Ford Taurus driving through a group of marchers and people on bicycles in Times Square, a major tourist destination and entertainment center in Manhattan.

New York City Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said on Friday that detectives were investigating the incident. He noted that no one has come forward with injuries and that two protesters had struck the window of the car.

“We have to interview both sides. We’d like to interview anyone that was in that vehicle, because we believe there was multiple people in that vehicle, and anyone that was on the scene,” Shea said on Fox 5’s Good Day New York.

The demonstrators had gathered to protest the death of Daniel Prude, a 41-year-old Black man, after an encounter with police in Rochester, New York, in March. The incident has become the latest flash point in a summer of civil unrest over racism and police brutality.

The Times Square protest followed similar demonstrations in Rochester this week triggered by the release of body camera footage of Prude’s arrest showing police officers putting a hood over his head – apparently to prevent his spit from possibly transmitting the novel coronavirus – as he knelt on the ground, handcuffed and naked.

Seven police officers were suspended on Thursday in connection with Prude’s arrest and death, which the medical examiner has ruled a homicide caused by “complications of asphyxia in the setting of physical restraint.” An autopsy also cited acute intoxication by phencyclidine, or the drug PCP, among additional contributing factors to his death, according to the New York Times.

Prude’s family has called for the arrest of the officers involved in the March 23 incident in the upstate New York city.

(Reporting by Nathan Layne in Wilton, Connecticut; Editing by Dan Grebler)