Rochester police officials sought for months to block the public release of body camera footage showing their role in the death of Daniel Prude, citing the possibility of "violent blowback" amid nationwide protests against racist police violence, according to newly released documents.
On March 23rd, officers placed Prude in a "spit hood" and kneeled on his back for several minutes, as the 41-year-old Black man suffered an apparent mental health episode. Prude died from his injuries a week later, but the incident was not made public until this month. Family members have alleged a cover-up on the part of Rochester officials.
Hundreds of emails and other internal communications released by the city this week show the extensive efforts undertaken by Rochester police officials to ensure the video was not made public earlier. The documents also implicate the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James, who has broad powers as the special prosecutor in cases involving unarmed civilians killed by police.
“We certainly do not want people to misinterpret the officers’ actions and conflate this incident with any recent killings of unarmed Black men by law enforcement nationally,” Deputy Police Chief Mark Simmons wrote to Chief La’Ron Singletary on June 4th, as protests against the killing of George Floyd protests roiled the country. “That would simply be a false narrative, and could create animosity and potentially violent blowback in this community as a result.”
Facing a deadline to respond to the family's Freedom of Information Request for the video, Simmons suggested the department stall the release based on the ongoing investigation by AG James.
"I totally agree," Police Chief La’Ron Singletary wrote back.
In another June email, a lawyer for the city said she'd spoken to Jennifer Sommers, a state assistant attorney general, who recommended the tactic of allowing family members to watch the video in-person, while putting off its wider release.
"This way, the city is not releasing anything pertaining to the case for at least a month (more like 2), and it will not be publicly available," Stephanie Price, the city lawyer, wrote.
Earlier this month, amid widespread protests in Rochester, James empaneled a grand jury to investigate Prude's death. "At no point over the course of this investigation did any member of the Attorney General’s Office instruct the city of Rochester or the Rochester Police Department to withhold information of any kind, period," a spokesperson for the office told Gothamist. "For weeks, the city and the police department have engaged in a deeply troubling and misleading campaign in an attempt to cover their tracks and shirk accountability, rather than focusing on the real problem at hand."
Asked about the investigation last week, Governor Andrew Cuomo incorrectly suggested that James did not have the video until this month. “When it came to light last week or whatever it was that video, which I thought was horrific, I called on the AG to expedite her actions in compliance with the law,” he said.
The edited police report following the confrontation involving Daniel Prude
The documents also shed light on police actions to immediately re-classify Prude's the immediate aftermath. A draft of the police report features a red circle around the description of Prude as an individual. "Make him a suspect," it reads.
A second edit instructs the officer to "add burglary" to the report, noting that Prude was suspected of breaking a window.
An internal review conducted by the Rochester police, led by Lieutenant Steven Swetman, found "no evidence to suggest any excessive force, or misconduct on the part of the involved officers."
On Monday, Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren fired Singletary, who planned to retire at the end of this month, along with his entire command staff. Simmons, who was demoted the previous week, is currently serving as the interim police chief.
Warren has insisted that she did not learn of the true circumstances of Prude's death until August, when she first watched the video. She says that police initially described his death as a drug overdose, after a small amount of PCP was found in his system.
The medical examiner ruled Prude's death a homicide, identifying the the primary as "complications of asphyxia in the setting of physical restraint.
“Everyone is right. I should have known,” Warren said in a TV interview on Tuesday. “But this incident, an unfortunate and tragic situation, had been downplayed from the very beginning as a PCP overdose.”
This story has been updated to include a statement from the New York Attorney General.
