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 Rochester, said Attorney General Letitia James on Tuesday. market.
Prude’s family obtained images of Prude’s death dressed on his body, showing him naked in a dark, snowy street. A screen called “saliva hood” was placed over his head after he told police that he had contracted the new coronavirus. The video also shows Prude, apparently in the midst of a mental health crisis, being restrained on the floor by the police.
The footage was released in September, further fueling ongoing protests across the country against police violence after other high-profile episodes in 2020, where police killed black men and women, including the death of George Floyd at the hands of the police. Minneapolis in May.
ARCHIVE – In this undated file the photo provided by Roth and Roth LLP, shows Daniel Prude. Prude, 41, who choked after the police in Rochester, NY, put a “spit hood” on his head while he was taken into custody. (Courtesy Roth and Roth LLP via AP, Archive)
The trial of Derek Chauvin, the former policeman seen kneeling in videos on Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes, begins in Minneapolis on March 8.
James said his office hoped to obtain charges for the death of Prude, a 41-year-old father of five who lived in Chicago.
“I know that the Prude family, the Rochester community and communities across the country will be disappointed with this outcome,” said James at a news conference in Rochester, a city in upstate New York. Citing the court-imposed secrecy surrounding grand jury proceedings, James declined to say what charges his office had presented to jurors.
A lawyer for the Prude family and the Rochester mayor’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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Prude visited his brother and ran out of the house in the middle of the night, which led the brother to call the police, concerned about Prude’s mental health and reporting that he had taken PCP, an illegal drug.
The 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 from James’ office. Less than 10 minutes later, he stopped breathing. Efforts to revive him failed in the ambulance and he was removed from the life support device a week later.
An autopsy revealed that he died of asphyxiation after the blocks used by the police and excited arousal, a complex syndrome that can be triggered by the use of recreational drugs.
ARCHIVE – On this September 3, 2020, archival photo, Joe Prude, brother of Daniel Prude, right, and his son Armin, are with a photo of Daniel Prude in Rochester, NY (AP Photo / Ted Shaffre, Archive)
Shortly after the video was released last September, Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren fired police chief La’Ron Singletary. Seven police officers involved in the prison were suspended; their lawyers told local media that they followed police training properly.
Singletary’s successor, Police Chief Cynthia Herriott-Sullivan, said in a statement that her department would respect the jury’s decision and that it would continue to reform the way its officers respond to mental illness.
“My heart is with the Prude family during this difficult time,” said his statement. The officers involved remain suspended while an internal investigation continues, she said.
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Donna Lieberman, executive director of the Union for Civil Liberties in New York, criticized the grand jury for choosing “impunity, not responsibility”.
“The Rochester Police Department took Daniel Prude’s life while he was in crisis,” Lieberman said in a statement. “He deserved services and support, not to end his life.”
James, the attorney general, also made new recommendations on how cities respond to mental health crises on Tuesday, calling for emergency personnel to be trained to recognize the symptoms of excited delirium syndrome.