The Death of Daniel Prude

It is not my usual practice to comment on local news other than Chicago or Illinois news. This particular story has a Chicago connection since Mr. Prude’s daughter lives in Chicago and we’re getting a lot on it here. You have presumably heard of the recent death of Daniel Prude at the hands of the Rochester, New York police under circumstances which have eerie reminders of the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis last May. NPR reports:

The mayor of Rochester, N.Y., has ordered the immediate suspension of seven police officers over the death of Daniel Prude, a Black man who died of asphyxiation after being restrained during his arrest in March.

Police body camera footage of the encounter was released Wednesday, prompting protests and calls for transparency and justice.

In a press conference Thursday afternoon, Mayor Lovely Warren announced she is suspending the officers in question with pay. She said she did so “against the advice of counsel,” noting the police union could respond by suing the city.

Warren said Prude had been failed “by our police department, our mental health care system, our society … and by me.”

She also said institutional and structural racism had led to Prude’s death.

“I believe that if Daniel Prude was white all of those systems would not have failed him,” Warren said. “It is time that we stopped trying to not acknowledge this and call it for was it is. It’s racism.”

Rochester police arrested Prude in the early hours of March 23 after his brother, concerned about his sibling’s safety, had called 911. Prude, 41, had left his brother’s house in below-freezing temperatures wearing long johns and a tank top. He had been released from Rochester’s Strong Memorial Hospital earlier that night after expressing suicidal thoughts.

When Rochester police officers came upon Prude, he was naked and in distress. Prude had allegedly just gone on a destructive tear, according to police reports, smashing out the windows of storefronts and ranting about having the coronavirus. A passing tow truck driver who called 911 described Prude as being covered in blood.

The police bodycam footage shows officers, with Tasers drawn, confronting Prude and ordering him to lie down on the road, which was slick from a light snowfall. Prude complied, lying facedown on his stomach, and officers cuffed his hands behind his back.

But in time, the 5-foot-10-inch, 230-pound man grew agitated. He began yelling vulgarities, spitting at officers and tried, unsuccessfully, to stand up. Officers ordered him several times to return to the prone position before placing a white hood over Prude’s head, known as a “spit hood” and intended to protect others from possible infection.

Officers restrained Prude by holding him down by his feet and his head, and applying pressure to his back with a knee. Prude eventually fell unconscious and stopped breathing, according to police reports. He died a week later.

What puzzles me about this incident is that the Rochester Police Department has a Crisis Intervention Team. If you saw a naked man walking down the street breaking windows, wouldn’t you consider that an incident for the CIT? I certainly would. All the more so since the 911 call reported Mr. Prude as having a “mental breakdown” and the RPD had made a mental health arrest of Mr. Prude just 15 hours earlier. I find the whole situation baffling and sad.