Daniel Prude, 41, died last March, several days after an encounter with police in Rochester, NY. Prude was in a mentally distressed state at the time of the encounter. Officers placed a hood over his head, handcuffed him, and pressed his body against the pavement until he stopped breathing.
Despite bodycam footage showing police culpability, at the very least, a grand jury declined to indict the officers involved. Attorney General Letitia James said her office presented the strongest possible case but could not persuade the grand jury that the officers committed a crime.
“I know that the Prude family, the Rochester community, and communities across the country will rightfully be disappointed by this outcome,” said James. While James isn't seeking further action, she did express her discontent with the system and how she'd “frustrated efforts to hold law enforcement officers accountable for the unjustified killing of African Americans.”
“What binds these cases is a tragic loss of life in circumstances in which the death could have been avoided,” James said. “One recognizes the influences of race, from the slave codes to Jim Crow, to lynching, to the war on crime, to the over-incarceration of people of color: Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd. And now Daniel Prude,” she continued.
According to the lawyers of the seven officers suspended over Prude's death, they were following their training by employing a technique known as "segmenting." The defense also claimed Prude's death was caused primarily by his use of PCP, which made him irrational.
Source: apnews.com
