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Naked protesters, wearing “spit hoods” in reference to the murder of Daniel Prude, demonstrate outside the Rochester Public Safety Building in Rochester, New York, on Monday, September 7, 2020 (Democrat & Chronicle via AP).
ROCHESTER, New York – Naked except for the “spit hoods” in a reference to the murder of Daniel Prude, several protesters sat outside the Rochester police headquarters Monday morning to press for accountability for police, local media reported.
The photos and video showed approximately half a dozen protesters, naked or in minimal clothing and some with “Black Lives Matter” written on their backs, sitting quietly with their hands behind them, on a rain-slick street outside the Building of Public Security of the city. The Democrat & Chronicle reported that after a while, protesters were given blankets and left in cars.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump tweeted that Rochester was one of the cities that had “bad nights,” while Mayor Lovely Warren praised activist leaders, police, and community elders in a quiet night of protest Sunday. .
Prude, a 41-year-old black man, died after police found him running naked on a street on March 23, put a hood over his head to keep him from spitting, and then held him for about two minutes until he stopped breathe. He died a week after life support was removed.
His brother, Joe Prude, had called 911 for help for Daniel Prude’s unusual behavior. He had been taken to a hospital for a mental health evaluation that same night, but was released after a few hours, his brother told officers.
His death sparked outrage after family members on Wednesday released a police body camera video and written reports they obtained through a public records request.
Seven police officers were suspended Thursday and State Attorney General Letitia James said Saturday that she would form a grand jury and conduct a “thorough investigation” into Prude’s death. Warren and Police Chief La’Ron Singletary have faced resignation calls due to the delay in releasing the details of Prude’s death.
Officers from the police union have said the officers were following their training.
Protesters have demanded police accountability and legislation to change the way authorities respond to mental health emergencies.
The nightly protests continued Sunday, when police said more than 1,000 protesters marched toward the Public Security Building.
The demonstrations of the previous nights escalated into clashes between police and protesters, with officers spraying activists with chemical spray and firing what appeared to be pepper balls to drive them off the barricades around the headquarters building. At some points, fireworks were fired and a bus stop was set on fire.
Local media said there were no such clashes Sunday night, when community elders served as a buffer between protesters and police. The Police Department said no arrests were made.
“Last night, the world saw the true spirit of Rochester,” Warren said in a statement, adding that she had told the police department on Sunday “to take a smaller and more restricted stance.”
Trump, however, mentioned Rochester in a Monday morning tweet about cities that he said “they all had bad nights” and were “loosely run by radical left Democratic mayors and governors.”
“Get the image?” added the Republican president.
Warren, a Democrat, urged people to ignore Trump’s comments, accusing him of trying to “incite people to act hatefully and incite violence that he believes will benefit him politically.”
This summer, Trump has repeatedly portrayed Democratic mayors as weak leaders who have allowed their cities to be invaded by violence and disorderly protests, posing as the “law and order” president who will protect the country from chaos.
Shootings, murders and other crimes have risen this summer in cities like New York, Chicago and Detroit, although crime overall remains lower than in previous years.
Trump has sought to link street violence to the protests. Criminal justice experts say spikes in crime defy easy explanation in a year with historic unemployment and a pandemic that has killed more than 180,000 people.
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