Family, NY ACLU Call for Investigation Into Man’s Suffocation Death After Being Arrested By Rochester Police Back in March
The New York ACLU and the family of Daniel Prude, a Black man in Rochester who died of suffocation a week after police officers put a hood over his head and pushed him into the pavement, are calling for an investigation a month following his death.
MSNBC’s Hallie Jackson and Stephanie Gass showed police bodycam footage that was released by the Prude family on Wednesday, which shows officers placing a hood over Prude and pressing his face to the pavement for two minutes, even though they were called by his brother, who was seeking help.
“You see Daniel Prude without any clothes,” Gass said of the footage. “According to his brother, he phoned 911 after three o’clock in the morning because his brother was acting erratically, and this bodycam footage shows officers confronting him, eventually arresting him, putting that spit hood over them.”
The officers explained that they placed the hood over his head because he would not stop spitting at them and claimed to have the coronavirus.
“Later on in the footage, you see EMT workers arriving, providing CPR to Daniel Prude. He was then transferred to a hospital and put on life support, and he died seven days later,” Gass added. “Now you have these calls for the suspension and eventual arrest and charging of murder for these officers. The multiple investigations include an investigation by Letitia James, the Attorney General of New York as a result of an executive order by Governor Andrew Cuomo.”
The New York ACLU also took to Twitter to explain that Prude needed mental health assistance and demanded justice for him and his family:
Daniel Prude needed mental health assistance.
Instead he was handcuffed in near-freezing temperatures and killed by Rochester police.
His death was unjust, inhumane, and avoidable. We demand justice for Daniel Prude and his family.https://t.co/3HKzGCyuEX
— NYCLU (@NYCLU) September 2, 2020
“You have protests in Rochester, nine people were arrested after a press conference was held by the family, with his attorney,” Gass said. “They are calling for the arrest of these officers to have them be charged with homicide, because of this incident.”
Watch above, via MSNBC.
