San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
State’s expert told panel police didn’t kill Black man
Prosecutors overseeing a grand jury investigation into the death of Daniel Prude last year in Rochester, N.Y., 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 41yearold 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 hood over Prude’s head, had no impact on his breathing, according to transcripts of the proceedings 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. There is no universally accepted definition of excited delirium, and researchers have said it’s not well understood.
Vilke, a UC San Diego professor who routinely testifies on behalf of police, said that 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 155 vote, the transcripts show.
Prude family lawyer Elliot Shields said it was upsetting to confirm his suspicion that prosecutors had undermined their own case by calling Vilke. “It’s obvious that they didn’t even try,” he said.
He criticized prosecutors for calling as a witness someone he said should have been an expert for the defense at trial. He called Vilke’s assertion that restraining Prude was safer “outrageous.”
“They hired him so that he would come in and they could have cover and say, ‘Well, we tried.’ Well no you didn’t,” Shields said. “You tried to make sure these officers got off scotfree.”
Prosecutors from the state attorney general’s office sought no other charges.
The grand jury’s decision not to indict the officers 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 of accountability normally kept under wraps.
New York Attorney General Letitia James had said, in announcing the grand jury’s decision, that the state had put on the best case it could that the officers should be prosecuted. Her office defended its use of Vilke as an expert Friday, saying it promised an independent investigation into Prude’s death without a predetermined outcome.
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.
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.
Vilke said he didn’t think the spit hood was a factor or that the officers obstructed Prude’s breathing. An officer testified that police used the hood because Prude was spitting and they were wary of being sickened in the early days of the pandemic.
The footage of Prude’s arrest and restraint sparked protests in Rochester.