(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)