Daniel Prude was in the throes of a mental health crisis and what he needed was compassion, care and assistance from trained professionals. Tragically, he received none of these things, ”James said in a statement. “We concluded that there was sufficient evidence of Mr. Prude’s death to present the case to a grand jury, and we presented the most comprehensive case possible.
“While I know that the Prude family, the Rochester community and communities across the country will be rightly devastated and disappointed, we must respect this decision,” added James.
Lawyers Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci, who represent Prude’s family, said they are “ deeply disappointed that the agents will not be prosecuted for the murder of Daniel Prude during what was clearly a mental health crisis, while he was lying naked in the cold streets. with a spit cap they placed over his head. “
“This tragedy could have been avoided if the officers had been properly trained, but also used human decency and common sense to treat Mr. Prude with compassion and give him the medical attention he deserved,” the lawyers said in a statement. “We will continue to advocate for justice in the civil courts, while also pursuing reform of the federal police force so that these ongoing tragedies against black citizens end once and for all.”
James said deadly force laws “have created a system that has utterly and abject abandoned Mr. Prude and so many others before him.”
“A major reform is needed, not only in the Rochester Police Department, but also for our criminal justice system as a whole,” said James, who began an investigation into the case in April.
The police dashboard and body cameras, released to the public months after the incident, showed officers handcuffed to a naked Prude and covering his head with a “spit sock” after claiming he had the coronavirus and spit it out.
The officers held him and pushed him to the floor in a prone position, according to the video, which also showed officers kneeling on Prude.
EMTs later arrived and began performing chest compressions, the video showed. Prude was placed on a stretcher and in an ambulance.
When Prude arrived at the hospital, his brother said he was brain dead. He died a week later.
Seven police officers involved in the arrest were suspended. The police union has insisted that the officers follow their training and protocols.
Prude, 41, had a mental health problem on March 23 when his brother Joe called Rochester police for help, his family told reporters.
Prude’s death was considered murder by the Monroe County medical examiner, according to a copy of the autopsy report obtained by attorneys for his family. The report cited complications of asphyxiation with physical coercion as a finding. The report also cited agitated delirium and acute PCP intoxication as causes of death.
The death also raised questions about how the police respond to cases involving people in a psychological crisis. The police are often the first to respond to reports of a person’s irregular behavior, and occasionally use police tactics or force in their response.
Rochester City Council approved a subpoena to a New York City law firm in September that led the independent investigation into the city’s handling of the case – specifically whether there was an internal cover-up and how information about Prude’s death was public was withheld in the city of western New York.
In a declassified police incident report, in addition to many edits, some prosaic, Prude’s name is written in the space labeled ‘Victim’. Prude’s name is circled in red, next to a large handwritten note: “Make him a suspect.”
The Mayor of Rochester, Lovely Warren, expelled the police chief for retirement and suspended two other city employees.
Prude’s sister filed suit in federal court in September against the former police chief, 13 officers and the city, claiming in part that the department had covered up the death.
The former police chief, La’Ron Singletary, said earlier this month that he had seen nothing ‘flagrant’ or criminal behavior from police officers when he first watched a camera video of the incident. He testified against an independent investigator in a virtual statement.