7 Officers Suspended Involved In The Death Of Daniel Prude

Rochester Mayor, Lovely Warren, has suspended seven police officers that were involved in the death of Daniel Prude, a black man, but local activists are calling for the officers to be arrested and terminated.

Mr. Daniel Prude suffered from some sort of mental breakdown on March 23. His brother called the police for help, but Mr. Prude ended up being suffocated by the police instead. The coroner's report listed his manner of death as a homicide.

Yesterday local activists were out in front of the Rochester Police Department’s Headquarters protesting the death of Mr. Prude. Today Rochester’s mayor announced the suspension of seven officers involved.

Mayor Warren said that she was initially misled by the police department and was advised by the police chief that Mr. Prude had died as a result of a drug overdose. She said that it was not until she looked at the police body camera footage that she was made aware of the details involved in the incident.

Mayor Warren said that if Mr. Prude had been a white man, he would have been treated differently. She said, “Institutional, structural racism led to Daniel Prude’s death. I won’t deny it. I stand before it and I called for justice upon it.” Mayor Warren said that the officers were suspended with pay “against the advice of counsel“.

It appears that the nonviolent protest that happened yesterday in front of police headquarters is showing that police officers will be held accountable if we raise our voices. We send our condolences to Mr. Prude’s family and we are looking forward to seeing justice for Mr. Prude.