Mayor orders suspension of 7 officers
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – It has been 164 days since Daniel Prude lay naked in the falling snow, restrained by several Rochester police officers until he stopped breathing.
On Thursday, Mayor Lovely Warren ordered the immediate suspension of seven officers involved in Prude’s death. She also rebuked Police Chief La’ron Singeltary for his handling of the case, including a failure to inform her of the full details of the March 23 incident until early August.
The steps came hours after members of the Rochester City Council sent her a letter calling for stronger actions in response to Prude’s death March 30.
“The only way we can confront systemic racism in our city is to face it head-on,” Warren said. “There can not be a justice system for white people and a justice system for Black people.”
She also accepted the blame for the city’s lack of transparency regarding the case. News of the incident was not revealed until Wednesday, when family members released video of the fatal encounter.
What took so long for the case to become public? Warren said Wednesday that state law prevented the city from notifying the community of the incident. That position, however, is not supported by the text of the law she referenced, or by the city’s past practice.
“I want everyone to understand and be very clear that at no point in time did we feel this was something we wanted not to disclose,” Warren said. “This is not something that’s in our wheelhouse, in our control, at this moment in time.
“Had it been, then for me, this would be something we would have talked about months ago. Unfortunately I can’t because of what my law department is telling me I have to adhere to, and that’s the executive order and the attorney general’s investigation.”
The executive order to which Warren referred, Executive Order 147, was signed by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2015 after a Staten Island grand jury declined to indict an officer in the death Eric Garner.
The order provides that any death caused by police will be investigated by the state attorney general rather than local authorities. As Warren said, it “precludes (the city) from getting involved.” The order says nothing about alerting media and the public about a death.
A city spokesman did not provide any further details on the guidance Warren said she had received from lawyers regarding Executive Order 147.
Attorney General Letitia James is investigating Prude’s death but has issued no determination. Singletary said he launched two investigations, one criminal and one internal, on March 23, but those have been put on hold in deference to James.
“I know there’s rhetoric out there that this is a cover-up,” he said. “This is not a cover-up. … From day one we have been in conversation with the investigative authorities.”
There is no rule that a law enforcement agency must issue a public statement related to deaths, including those involving people in custody.
Contributing: Brian Sharp, Sean Lahman and Will Cleveland, Democrat and Chronicle