The family of a Black man who died following an arrest in March is demanding that the officers involved be charged with murder. The arrest occurred on March 23, after Joe Prude called the Rochester Police Department because his brother Daniel ran outside naked in an agitated mental state.
The officers arrived on the scene and placed Daniel in handcuffs and put a spit hood over his head. Daniel was uncooperative, and officers wrestled him the ground. Daniel asked the officers to remove the hood, but they slammed his head into the ground and told him to stop spitting. After two minutes, Daniel stopped moving and an officer noticed he had thrown up. A paramedic was called over, and the officers began performing chest compressions. Daniel was then loaded in an ambulance and transported to the hospital, where he died one week later.
The medical examiner determined that his death was a homicide caused by "complications of asphyxia in the setting of physical restraint."
After body camera footage of the arrest was released, about 100 protesters gathered outside a police station in the city and marched to the street where Daniel was detained. Police used pepper spray or tear gas to disperse the crowd.
Daniel's family is preparing to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the department.
"How many more brothers got to die for society to understand that this needs to stop," Joe Prude said. "And I can't even share with y'all the pain that I'm feeling, and my family is going through as well."
The New York Attorney General's office is handling the investigation into the arrest. Local officials said they are waiting for the results of the investigation and have not suspended any of the officers involved.
Photo: Rochester Police Department