Police video Rochester police video screenshot showing Daniel Prude.
A graphic Rochester police body cam video is causing outrage because it shows officers restraining a Chicago man named Daniel Prude, who later died of asphyxia along with other contributing factors in New York.
You can see the video later in this article, but be aware that it’s very disturbing. Although Prude died in March, the video wasn’t released until September, when it was unveiled to the public in a press conference held by Prude’s family and supporters. Prude died about a week after the video after being declared brain dead; the video has sparked outrage and protests.
An officer says in the video that Prude told them he had COVID-19, which may explain the use of the spit hood. Free the People Roc obtained the video and posted it on Facebook, writing, “**Warning** This video contains graphic content, including nudity, and the killing of an unarmed black man by members of the Rochester, NY police force.”
The Democrat & Chronicle, a local newspaper, drew comparisons between Prude’s death and that of George Floyd, in Minneapolis. The police investigation action report into the death found that the officers’ actions “appear to be appropriate and consistent with training.”
The RPD Investigative Action Report dated April 27 says the actions of the officers dealing with Daniel Prude “appear to be appropriate and consistent with training.” @news10nbc
The Attorney General’s office is still investigating the death. The officers are on active duty and did not face discipline, the Democrat & Chronicle reported.
Here’s what you need to know:
The Police Body Cam Video Shows Officers’ Actions That Night, Which Included Putting a Hood on Prude’s Head
The body cam video was edited and released by the Prude family attorneys.
“Get on the ground man. Put your hands behind your back, behind your back, don’t move.. chill out man, don’t move,” an officer says in the above video. “One male in custody,” an officer says.
Prude is shown face down with his hands cuffed behind his back. “Yes sir,” he says at first, but then he grows increasingly agitated.
“Jesus Christ, I’m going to sue your a**…Let me go man…get the f*** away from me. Give me your gun, I need it man,” are some of the comments he makes to officers. He also makes graphic references to his own genitals.
Prude is surrounded by multiple officers. He then sits up, lies on his side, and an officer puts a mesh hood on his face.
“Jesus Christ, I pray,” he says at another point, again using graphic language about his genitals. “Take this off my mother f***ing face.”
“You’re trying to kill me!” Prude says at another point in the video.
An officer tells Prude to “stop spitting,” and you can hear the sound of Prude spitting. Then officers come closer and an officer presses on him. Someone says Prude almost got hit by a car. An officer cuffs him.
You then see a mesh bag over his head, and an officer with his hands pressed on Prude’s head as he appears to be lying face down. This goes on for some time.
Prude gets more agitated. “Relax, dude,” an officer says. “Give me the gun,” Prude says, but his speech is growing quieter. An officer appears to be pressing on his head. Prude then goes quiet.
An officer appears to be pressing his knee into Prude and a second officer also presses on his body during the video. “He feels pretty cold,” an officer says.
“He says he has corona,” says another officer.
Prude has gone silent, and an ambulance arrives. “You good man?” an officer asks. “Oh, he’s puking just straight water; all that water came out of his mouth,” an officer says. “Hey man are you puking?”
Prude is silent. “He’s still moving his arm,” an officer says, grabbing Prude’s arm, but there appears to be no movement. “Roll him over on his side,” an officer says. “He started throwing up now. It looks like he doesn’t even have chest compressions,” an officer says.
They start CPR. Officers go to get hand sanitizer. A female paramedic helps with CPR and mentions excited delirium, saying, “It’s not your guys’ fault. You have to keep yourself safe.”
According to The Appeal, police handcuffed Prude, “mocked him, put a mesh bag over his head, knelt on his back, and pushed his face into the ground until he stopped breathing.” Prude was unarmed. The Democrat & Chronicle described the video this way: “It depicts at least three officers holding Prude prone and forcing his head and chest into the pavement for several minutes until, apparently unnoticed by the officers, he stops breathing.”
The Democrat & Chronicle named officers in the video as Officer Mark Vaughn and Officer Troy Talladay.
Prude’s Brother Was the Person Who Called Police for Help
GoFundMeDaniel Prude
According to 13WHAM, Prude was from Chicago, Illinois. He was 41 years old.
Prude’s brother, Joe Prude, spoke to The Appeal. He said he called police for help after his brother, in the words of The Appeal, “was acting strangely and had suddenly bolted out the back door. ”
“That was a lynching,” Joe Prude told The Appeal. “That was cold-blooded murder. … My brother was a loving individual. He was a likeable guy and a damn good brother. He made people laugh. He brought joy to people. He didn’t deserve what happened to him.”
The Appeal says Prude was brain dead for a week before dying.
According to the Democrat & Chronicle, Prude’s family told police he might be on PCP (toxicology tests showed that was true); he was in Rochester to say with family after riding an Amtrak to Buffalo, where he was thrown off the train. He then exhibited disturbing behavior including jumping “head-first down the basement stairs,” so Prude’s brother called police and he was taken to the hospital for a mental health evaluation and released, the newspaper reported. The restraint incident started after Prude ran out of the back door at 3 a.m., prompting his brother to call 911 again for help. He may have then broken windows on a business.
A GoFundMe page to help Prude’s family has raised more than $8,000.
Daniel Prude needed mental health assistance. Instead, he was murdered by @RochesterNYPD—and the cops who killed him are still on the force.
Demand the police officers who murdered #DanielPrude in the street are arrested & charged. #JusticeForDanielPrude t.co/nTgxHVeae3
According to the Democrat & Chronicle, the medical examiner ruled Prude’s death a homicide “caused by ‘complications of asphyxia in the setting of physical restraint.'” The autopsy report also said the cause of death was “complications of asphyxia in the setting of physical restraint due to excited delirium due to acute phycyclidine intoxication.”
The newspaper reported that he also had “two different lung diseases, heart inflammation and a brain injury.”
A medical examiner’s homicide label is not the same as a legal determination of criminal homicide by prosecutors. It generally means death at the hands of another. The officers in this case have not been criminally charged, but the New York state Attorney General’s office is still investigating the case.
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