No charges will be filed for the death of New Yorker Daniel Prude, who was seen in police camera footage pinned to the ground with a spit bag on his head.
New York Attorney General Letitia James announced Tuesday that a grand jury voted not to charge any of the Rochester police officers involved in the incident.
Prude, 41, was stopped by officers in March 2020 during a mental health emergency. His death, due to asphyxiation complications after retiring, was considered a homicide.
“Daniel Prude was in the midst of a mental health crisis and what he needed was compassion, attention and help from trained professionals,” James said in a statement. “Tragically, he didn’t get any of these things.”
Camera footage, released by Prude’s family in September, showed Prude appeared to be unconscious while lying on the floor.
The delay in posting the video prompted James ’office to implement a new policy in which body camera images will now be released earlier in the investigation process.
James said on Tuesday that the current laws on deadly force “have created a system that totally and abjectly failed Mr. Prude and so many others before him,” adding that serious reform is needed in the “criminal justice system.” Generally”.
“While I know the Prude family, the Rochester community and communities across the country will be duly devastated and disappointed, we must respect that decision,” James said.
Following the announcement, hundreds of protesters gathered Tuesday night at the site where Prude met with police last year, according to WHAM-TV, a subsidiary of ABC Rochester. They marched as they shouted, “There is no justice, no peace.”
In the midst of the protest, the Rochester police department called for anyone “who wished to protest peacefully to refrain from participating or being involved with anyone who acts or commits acts of violence.”
Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren said in a statement that the decision is “difficult for many of us to understand.”
“Today’s findings will not undo the damage done or return Mr. Prude to his loved ones. And we express our deepest prayers and condolences to his children and family,” Warren said. “There are no words that can comfort a family that has lost its loved one in this tragic way. Our future actions will ensure that the death of Daniel Prude is not in vain.”
Lovely echoed James’ insistence that policies and procedures must change to “correct system inequalities.”
James’ office has released a comprehensive report with detailed descriptions of the events that allegedly occurred on March 22 and 23 “to provide maximum transparency in the case,” according to a statement.
More answers will also be given to what happened behind closed doors with the grand jury, as James announced Tuesday evening that a judge had granted a motion to release the proceedings.
“This is a critical step in bringing about the much-needed change,” he said he said on Twitter.
His office will vacate the procedure “as soon as the judge authorizes it,” he said.
Attorneys Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci, who represent Crude’s family, said in a joint statement that they are “deeply disappointed” that the officers involved do not face criminal charges.
“This tragedy could have been avoided if the officers had been properly trained, but they had also used basic human decency and common sense to treat Mr. Prude with compassion and get the medical care he deserved,” they said. lawyers. “We will continue to defend justice in civilian courts, while also seeking a reform of the federal police so that these continued tragedies against black citizens end once and for all.”
Former Rochester police chief La’Ron Singletary was fired in September amid criticism over the management of Prude’s death. Seven officers involved in the incident were also suspended that month and will remain on leave pending an internal investigation, Rochester Police Chief Cynthia Herriott-Sullivan and Mr. Rochester said in a statement. Rochester Police Locust Club, the department’s police union.
Herriott-Sullivan said he has “a deep and firm consideration for our judicial system and due process for all people,” but that the department will continue to update its policies and training, from the escalation, the duty to intervene and mental hygiene detention practices.
“I want the family and our community to know that I accepted the role of interim police chief to make real, systemic change, and that is my goal,” Herriott-Sullivan said. “I am proud of the progress we are making and of the RPD officers for being open to learning alternative methods and working together towards a common goal to prevent this from happening again.”
Lawyers representing several of the suspended officers said they were following their mandatory training.
“We’ve said from the beginning that our clients didn’t do anything wrong,” James Nobles, who represents one of the officers, told WHAM on Tuesday. “They followed the procedure they asked for in their training, they did what they had been asked to do. And you know, 23 citizens of this community heard weeks of evidence and dozens of witnesses and came to the same conclusion.” .
“It’s easy to sit back and say they should have been nicer and they should have said that, they should have done that,” Matt Rich, who represents four of the officers, told the station. “What they did was that, in a crisis in a high-tension situation, they re-trained, which was what their superiors had ordered them to do.”