Rochester Police Officers Suspended After Body Cam Video Released Of Daniel Prude's Arrest

The city of Rochester, New York, on Thursday suspended seven police officers involved in the detainment in March of 41-year-old Black man Daniel Prude, who died days later of asphyxiation.

The suspensions come after attorneys for Prude's family on Wednesday released police bodycam video showing the officers covering Prude's face with a widely used device known as a "spit hood," because he had been spitting while arrested. Police can also be seen holding him on the ground while handcuffed in a prone position before he stopped breathing.

"Mr. (Daniel) Prude lost his life in our city. He lost his life because of the actions of our police officers," Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren said Thursday in a news conference.

Prude, a Chicago native, had been visiting his brother, Joe Prude, and suffered what has been called a "mental health crisis." Joe Prude said he called the police to get help for his brother, who was found wandering through the streets naked.

A police report noted that Prude, who had a history of mental illness, was behaving erratically.

Warren announced the officers would be suspended immediately, but they would continue being paid due to their union contracts.

“I understand that the union may sue the city for this,” Warren said during the press conference. “They shall feel free to do so.”

She said “institutional and structural racism” within the city’s justice system played a role in leading to Prude’s death, along with her own failure to address it.

“Mr. Daniel Prude was failed by our police department, our mental health care system, our society, and he was failed by me,” Warren said.

“I’m filled with grief, and anger at myself for all the failures that lead to his death.

“What I saw in that video was a man who needed help, a man who needed compassion, a man who needed humanity, a man who we should have respected, a man who was in crisis. Our response to him was wrong and we need to change how we deal with these situations going forward.”

Prude’s family said the suspensions were not a suitable punishment and continued demanding arrests. Prude’s 18-year-old daughter, Tashyra Prude, called the suspensions a “slap in the face” to her and her family.

“[The suspension] is just a slap in the face, especially with pay,” Tashyra Prude told reporters after Warren’s press conference. “There's footage of officers murdering an unarmed Black man who was handcuffed with a spit bag over his head, meaning he cannot attack anyone.”

“That's a paid vacation, if you ask me. That's beyond disrespectful to me, my siblings and the rest of my family and to everybody who cared about my father.”

The family’s frustration appeared to have boiled over to local Black Lives Matter organizations and other activist groups who promised to continue protesting until the city takes action. One protester also assured there would be no violence or looting during these protests because they want to keep the focus on reform.

“The clash that happened over here happened because the young people who came up here, knew the narrative that was going to be carried out here today and we weren’t going to be accepting it any longer,” protester Justin Morris told Rochester NPR-affiliate WXXI.

“There will be no looting in the community this week. We’re taking that stand. There will be no looting in the community this week. We’re going to awaken the people in the community to what activism looks like. What a real voice in the community looks like surrounding the issues.”