[ad_1]
“Daniel Prude was in the throes of a mental health crisis and what he needed was compassion, care and help from trained professionals. Tragically, he didn’t get any of these things,” James said. in a press release. “We concluded that there was sufficient evidence regarding Mr. Prude’s death to warrant taking the case to a grand jury, and we presented the most comprehensive case possible.
“While I know the Prude family, the community of Rochester and communities across the country will rightly be devastated and disappointed, we must respect this decision,” said James.
In a statement Tuesday night, James said a judge allowed his motion asking the court to unseal the grand jury minutes for public disclosure.
“This is a critical step in making the change that is so desperately needed,” she said.
James said earlier that lethal force laws “created a system that has utterly and abjectly failed Mr. Prude and so many before him.”
“Serious reform is needed, not only in the Rochester Police Department, but in our criminal justice system as a whole,” said the attorney general, who opened an investigation into the case in April.
Lawyers Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci, who represent Prude’s family, said they were “deeply disappointed that police were not charged with killing Daniel Prude during what was clearly a mental health crisis at the time. that he was naked in the cold streets with a hood they put on his head. “
“This tragedy could have been avoided if the officers had been properly trained, but also used human decency and common sense to treat Mr. Prude with compassion and provide him with the medical care he deserved,” the lawyers said in a statement. “We will continue to advocate for justice in civilian courts, while seeking federal police reform so that these continuing tragedies against black citizens end once and for all.”
In a statement, the US Department of Justice said: “We intend to review the full report issued by the New York State Attorney General, as well as any other relevant documents, and will determine whether another federal response is warranted. ”
Lawyer urges city to push reforms, not punish officers
Mayor Lovely Warren said the decision was “difficult for many of us to understand” but that the city will make sure Prude’s death was not in vain.
“Today’s findings will not repair the damage done or bring Mr. Prude back to his loved ones. And we extend our deepest prayers and condolences to his children and family,” Warren said in a statement.
Warren urged the community to come together behind the reforms being implemented in the police department.
The Rochester Police Locust Club, which represents the police, declined to comment pending the ongoing investigation.
CNN has sought comments from officers’ lawyers in the case.
Matthew Rich, who represents several suspended officers last year, said the decision was “long in coming.”
“We have been looking forward to this and are not surprised,” he said of the decision. “We are happy the grand jury made the right decision, but that does not end the situation the community finds itself in.”
Lawyer James Nobles, who represents another officer, said the city should seek policy changes within the department rather than punishing individual agents.
AG encourages changes in use of force laws and other reforms
James said she would push for state laws on the use of force and other reforms to be changed, including mandatory training in de-escalation techniques and medical and health emergency management. mental.
“The criminal justice system has thwarted efforts to hold law enforcement officials accountable for the wrongful murder of African Americans,” James said. “And what ties these cases together is a tragic loss of life in circumstances where death could have been avoided … And unfortunately history repeated itself again in the case of Daniel Prude.”
The attorney general said she was planning to meet with Prude’s brother.
Police dashboard and body camera footage, released months after the incident, showed officers handcuffing a naked Prude and covering his head with a “pin-sock” after he claimed that he had the coronavirus and was spitting.
Officers held him and pushed him to the ground while lying down, according to the video, which also showed officers kneeling on Prude.
Paramedics later arrived and began giving chest compressions, the video showed. Prude was placed on a stretcher and in an ambulance.
When Prude arrived at the hospital, he was brain dead, according to his brother. He died a week later.
Seven police officers involved in the arrest have been suspended. The police union insisted that officers go through their training and protocols.
Prude, 41, had a mental health episode on March 23 when her brother Joe called the Rochester Police Department for help, her family told reporters.
Prude’s death was declared a homicide by the Monroe County medical examiner, according to a copy of the autopsy report obtained by lawyers for her family. The report cited complications of asphyxiation as part of physical restraint as a conclusion. The report also cited excited delirium and acute PCP poisoning as causes of death.
The death has also raised questions about how the police respond to cases involving people with mental health crises. Police are often the first to respond to reports of someone acting erratically and sometimes use police tactics or force in their response.
In September, Rochester City Council authorized the subpoena power to a New York City law firm conducting independent inquiry into the city’s handling of the case – particularly if there was internal cover-up and how information about Prude’s death was kept away from the public. the city of western New York.
In a published police incident report, among many modifications, some prosaic, Prude’s name is written in the space titled “Victim”. Prude’s name is circled in red, next to a large handwritten note: “Make him a suspect.”
Warren pushed the police chief before his retirement and suspended two other city workers.
In September, Prude’s sister filed a lawsuit in federal court against the former police chief, 13 police officers and the city, partly claiming a cover-up of the death by the department.
Former police chief La’Ron Singletary said earlier this month he saw nothing “egregious” or criminal conduct on the part of the police when he looked for the first time video of the incident. He testified in a virtual deposition before an independent investigator.
Correction: an earlier version of this article misspelled the name of New York Attorney General Letitia James.
[ad_2]
Source link