Officers won’t face charges in man’s death
Police officers shown on body camera video holding Daniel Prude down naked and handcuffed on a city street last winter until he stopped breathing will not face criminal charges, according to a grand jury decision announced Tuesday.
The 41-year-old Black man’s death last March sparked nightly protests in Rochester, N.Y., after the video was released nearly six months later, with demonstrators demanding a reckoning for police and city officials.
State Attorney General Letitia James, whose office took over the prosecution, said her office “presented the strongest case possible” and she was “extremely disappointed” by the decision. Lawyers for the seven police officers suspended over Prude’s death have said the officers were following their training and that Prude’s use of PCP, which caused irrational behavior, was “the root cause” of his death.
The March 23 video made public on Sept. 4 was released in the wake of street demonstrations around the nation over George Floyd’s death. It shows Prude handcuffed and naked with a spit hood over his head as an officer pushes his face against the ground, while another officer presses a knee to his back. The officers held him down for about two minutes until he stopped breathing. He was taken off life support a week later.