Top cops retire in Rochester
Top police leaders in Rochester, N.Y., announced their retirements Tuesday amid nightly protests over the handling of the suffocation death of Daniel Prude, whose family filed a federal lawsuit alleging a cover-up by law enforcement.
Police Chief La’Ron Singletary, Deputy Chief Joseph Morabito and two commanders retired, while two more deputy chiefs and a commander gave up top leadership positions and returned to lower ranks. The outgoing chief accused critics of trying to “destroy my character and integrity.”
Mayor Lovely Warren said during a video call with members of the City Council that she didn’t ask Singletary, 40, to resign, but that his abrupt decision to step down came after “new information that was brought to light today that I had not previously seen before.“She didn’t elaborate.
The sudden announcements came more than five months after the death of Prude, a 41-year-old Black man who died several days after an encounter with police March 23. There have been nightly protests in the city since video of the incident came to light last week.
“The events that have unfolded today have taken us completely by surprise, as they have everyone else,” the Rochester police union said in a statement. The union blamed the “problems of leadership” on the mayor.
“The mischaracterization and the politicization of the actions that I took after being informed of Mr. Prude’s death is not based on facts, and is not what I stand for,” Singletary said in his own statement.
Singletary, who spent his entire career in the Rochester Police Department, was appointed chief in April 2019. He will stay on through the end of the month, Warren said.
“This is great news,” said Iman Abid, speaking for Free the People ROC, which has held protests since details of Prude’s death emerged. “It says to the people that people are able to move things and to shape things. The police chief wouldn’t retire if it weren’t for something that he felt he was accountable to.”