N.Y.’s own expert told grand jury that police didn’t kill Chicago man
Prosecutors overseeing a grand jury investigation into the death of Chicagoan Daniel Prude last year in Rochester, New York, undercut the case for criminal charges with testimony from a medical expert who said three police officers who held Prude to the ground until he stopped breathing didn’t do anything wrong.
Dr. Gary Vilke told the grand jury that Prude, a 41-year-old Black man, died of a heart attack caused by the medical phenomenon known as excited delirium. He said the officers’ actions, which included placing a mesh hood over Prude’s head, had no impact on his breathing, according to transcripts made public Friday.
A medical examiner ruled Prude’s death a homicide due to asphyxiation from a physical restraint, with use of the drug PCP as a factor.
Vilke, a University of California, San Diego professor who routinely testifies on behalf of police, said restraining Prude during the encounter in the early hours of March 23, 2020, may have been best for his safety given his condition.
Asked by a grand juror if anything could have been done better, Vilke responded: “I wouldn’t do anything differently.”
The grand jury ultimately rejected criminally negligent homicide charges against the three officers by a 15-5 vote, the transcripts show.
Prosecutors from the state attorney general’s office sought no other charges. They told grand jurors that they could choose not to indict if they believed the use of force was justified. Five jurors indicated they would have voted to indict at least one of the officers.
The grand jury’s decision not to indict was announced at the time it was made in February, but the transcripts of nine days of testimony from witnesses — including Prude’s brother, police officers and experts — offer a rare window into a process normally kept under wraps.
Prude family lawyer Elliot Shields said he believed prosecutors had undermined their own case by calling Vilke, whom he likened to a defense witness.
“It’s obvious that they didn’t even try,” Shields told The Associated Press.
Prude encountered police hours after he was released from a hospital following a mental health arrest. He ran naked from his brother’s home and was seen bashing store windows. Prude’s brother, Joe, testified that he warned an officer responding to his home, “Don’t kill my brother.”
Prude’s death went largely unnoticed until September, when his family released body camera video of the encounter obtained through a public records request. Emails later made public by the city showed police commanders urged city officials to hold off on releasing the footage.
The video showed Prude handcuffed and naked with a spit hood over his head as one officer pushed his face against the ground and another officer pressed a knee to his back. The officers held Prude down for about two minutes until he stopped breathing. He was taken off life support a week later.
The footage of Prude’s arrest and restraint sparked nightly protests in Rochester, a rust-belt city on the shore of Lake Ontario which was roiled recently by body camera footage of white officers using pepper spray on a 9-year-old Black girl.
Seven officers, including the three involved in Prude’s restraint, remain suspended pending the outcome of an internal investigation.