Daniel Prude: 7 Rochester Cops Suspended After Black Man Died From Asphyxiation

The mayor told reporters Thursday that she had been misled by the city’s police chief, who said he led her to believe the man died in police custody from an overdose. She first saw the body camera footage nearly a month ago, Warren said.

Prude was condemned by many officials before and during the March 23 incident, the mayor said. They would have treated him differently if he were white, he said.

“Institutional structural racism led to the death of Daniel Prude. I will not deny it. I stand up to him and call for justice,” Warren said.

Prude’s daughter, Tashyra Prude, calls for the officers to be fired and wants them to be prosecuted for her father’s death.

“They should be arrested and tried for the killers that they are,” Tashyra Prude told CNN’s Erica Hill on Thursday.

‘How many more brothers are going to die?’ Says the brother

Prude, 41, was having a mental health episode on March 23 when her brother Joe called the Rochester Police Department for help, the family said at a news conference Wednesday.

Video provided by attorneys shows officers handcuffing Prude, who was naked, in the middle of a wet, snowy street, and placing a covering over her head.

Several minutes later, EMTs arrive and begin performing chest compressions, the video shows. They then place him on a stretcher and in an ambulance.

When Prude arrived at the hospital, she was brain dead, her brother said. She died a week later.

The officers involved were not initially suspended and received no disciplinary action. The union representing Rochester police officers said in a statement to CNN that they have “concerns” about the incident and are working to gather more information.

At a press conference Wednesday, Joe Prude said police had killed a defenseless black man and called his brother’s death “cold-blooded murder.” Elliot Shields, one of the attorneys for the Prude family, said the attorneys are in the preliminary stages of filing a wrongful death lawsuit.

“How many more brothers have to die for society to understand that this must end?” Said Joe Prude. “And I can’t even share the pain I’m feeling with all of you, and my family is going through too.”

Organizers of the Free the People Roc group, a Black Lives Matter group, named three officers who they say were involved in the incident. CNN is working to confirm their identities and is not naming them at this time.

Family members are calling for the officers to be fired and arrested.

What body camera images and police reports show

Attorneys for Prude’s family provided CNN with an edited video compiling the body cameras of various officers. They also provided several police documents describing the incident.

The incident started after Joe Prude and several other people called the police. Joe Prude told police that his brother had made suicide threats earlier that day and had been taken into custody on a mental health arrest, or MHA.

In addition, a witness recorded a video on Facebook Live in which Prude is seen undressing and defecating in the street. And a tow truck driver called police to report a naked and bloody man trying to open a closed car door, documents provided to CNN say.

The video begins at 3:16 am with Prude naked on a wet street as a light snow falls.

An officer gets out of his squad car, walks up to Prude asking her six times to get down on the ground while the officer points a taser gun at him. Prude obeys and is asked to put her hands behind her back, which she does quickly. The officer then handcuffs him while Prude says “yes sir” several times.

Several other officers arrive on the scene and one appears to identify Prude by name.

While handcuffed, Prude repeats the phrase “in Jesus Christ I pray, amen.” He also makes several comments about getting his money to take a plane, and asks for the officers’ weapons and to stay away from him. He screams that he has coronavirus and spits in his direction.

Three minutes after the incident begins, an officer places a spitting sock, which is designed to prevent a person from spitting or biting, on Prude’s head.

Prude appears to be attempting to get to his feet at approximately 3:20 a.m., with three officers approaching to pin him down and keep him on the ground. Police say Prude is spitting and appears to have vomited. Three minutes and 10 seconds after the restraint, an officer says “he started vomiting, now it seems he doesn’t even have chest compressions.

The EMT is called in to help whoever instructs an officer to turn Prude over and perform chest compressions, which they do.

Prude appears unresponsive and is loaded into an ambulance at 3:27 am, 11 minutes after the first officer arrived on scene.

The NY Attorney General’s office investigating

In the autopsy report, medical officials cite acute myocarditis and a history of severe respiratory acidosis. They stated that Prude also has a clinical history of agitation and combative behavior, as well as a medical history of suicidal ideation and possible auditory hallucinations and paranoia.

Police investigators who reviewed the images and interviews with officers and paramedics cleared the officers of wrongdoing, according to internal documents provided by Prude’s family attorneys.

“Based on the investigation, the actions and conduct of officers shown in dealing with Prude appear to be appropriate and consistent with their training,” said an internal police report.

New York Attorney General Letitia James launched an investigation into the case on April 16.

“The Prude family and the Rochester community deserve answers, and we will continue to work around the clock to provide them,” James said in a statement.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo described the Daniel Prude video as “deeply disturbing” on Thursday and called for “the case to be concluded as quickly as possible.”