Suit: Rochester police ignore cops’ racism

The Rochester Police Department has stubbornly refused to root out racism from its ranks, a major class action lawsuit set to be filed Monday claims.

The troubled police department in the city of more than 200,000 people destroyed camera footage of cops’ “extreme violence” against racial justice protesters last fall and declined to fire officers with ties to white supremacists, the suit states.

The 96-page complaint traces the department’s long, troubled history from 1975 to the recent killing of Daniel Prude (photo), who died naked in a Rochester street in March 2020 with a spit hood over his face while in the throes of a mental breakdown.

“For decades, Rochester city officials have responded with deliberate indifference to this problem. By failing to meaningfully train, supervise and discipline officers who use excessive force and instead suppressing evidence of officer misconduct and attacking critics of the department, the city has fostered a culture of violence and impunity in its ranks,” the suit reads.

The lawsuit seeks class action status on behalf of everyone subjected to excessive force in Rochester between March 31, 2018, and March 31, 2021. The goal, attorneys on the case wrote, is “to fundamentally change policing in Rochester.” The case will be filed by attorneys Joshua Moskovitz and Elliot Shields, among others.

The Rochester Police Department’s past faced new scrutiny last September, when Prude’s family released raw video of his disturbing death. The footage showed that officers held Prude, 41, facedown on the pavement, with one pushing his head against the street. Prude was taken off of life support seven days later.

A grand jury opted not to indict the police officers involved in the killing. State Attorney General Letitia James said she was “extremely disappointed” by the decision and pledged to pursue reform of laws on use of deadly force. Prude’s death, the AG wrote in a report, highlighted the potential deadly consequences when cops respond to calls regarding mentally ill people.