Reactions flooded in Thursday after the publication of a video on Wednesday showing how Daniel Prude, an African-American man, died of suffocation by police officers during his arrest in Rochester, New York, a further example of police abuse in heart of a protest movement since May.
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The case dates back to March 23 but resurfaced after the family obtained a copy of the video shot by the mini-cameras the police were wearing that day.
The police intervened after an emergency call from the victim’s brother, worried because Daniel Prude was seized with psychological disorders.
Once there, a police officer finds Daniel Prude lying on the ground in the street, naked, and handcuffed, according to images published Wednesday.
As the 41-year-old makes incoherent comments, a police officer places a canvas bag over his head, which annoys him even more.
This canvas hood is called a “spit hood” and is intended to prevent one of the officers from receiving saliva as the man spits and claims to have the coronavirus, according to one of the officers.
- WARNING, the following images could shock some people:
An agent then places both hands on the hood. Daniel Prude is visibly struggling to breathe and begs for this canvas bag to be removed, before losing consciousness. Officers laugh and joke several times during the arrest.
The man fell into a coma and died a week later after being hospitalized. Father of five children and living in Chicago, Daniel Prude was in Rochester to visit his brother Joe.
The forensic institute concluded, after autopsy, that the death was a homicide, linked to “asphyxiation resulting from a physical constraint”.
“How many more will have to die?”
“When I saw the video, I was very shocked,” Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren, who is African American, commented at a press conference Wednesday.
The elected said that the file had been entrusted to the services of the attorney of the State of New York as of the hours which follow the interpellation, as provided for by local law, to avoid any conflict of interest.
“Since then, we have been waiting for (they) to decide on the way forward,” she explained. “Unfortunately, it took a long time.”
New York State Attorney Letitia James has confirmed the existence of an investigation, without specifying the status of her investigations.
“It’s been four months since the prosecutor’s office opened its investigation, but it doesn’t take long to find that the officers involved abused their authority and put an end to Mr. Prude’s existence,” he said. reacted the director of the local branch of the organization for the defense of human rights New York Civil Liberties Union, Iman Abid.
“I made a call for my brother to get help, not for him to be lynched,” Daniel’s brother Joe Prude told a press conference Wednesday. For him, it is a “cold-blooded murder”.
“How many (black) brothers will still have to die for society to understand that this has to end?” He asked.
Dozens of people gathered on Wednesday to demonstrate outside the public safety headquarters in Rochester.
Since 1964 and race riots that resulted in the departure of a significant portion of the white population, relations have been difficult between the Rochester police and the black community.
According to statistics from New York state, 49% of those arrested in 2018 in Monroe County, where Rochester is located, were black, while African Americans make up only 15% of the population.
The city’s police chief, La’Ron Singletary, who is black, said there was never any question of “covering up” the incident.
However, he indicated that the officers present during the arrest had not been suspended.
This new case comes after a series of brutal arrests of black women and men in the United States, including George Floyd.
The latter’s death on May 25 sparked protests across the country to protest police brutality and denounce the racism faced by African Americans in the United States.
On August 23, another black man, Jacob Blake, was seriously injured by gunshot wounds in Kenosha, Wisconsin during his arrest, as footage shows he was not threatening police.
The news sparked another wave of protests, including in Kenosha, where a 17-year-old shot dead two protesters.