The New York attorney general on Saturday announced the constitution of a grand jury to investigate the death of an African-American suffering from mental health problems, suffocated by police after his arrest on March 23.
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The family of Daniel Prude, 41, said he died on March 30 in hospital, seven days after his arrest by police in Rochester, upstate New York.
Daniel Prude is the latest in a list of African Americans to die in police blunders that have sparked angry protests across the United States in recent months.
“My office will immediately take steps to set up a grand jury as part of our full investigation into this matter,” Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in a Twitter post praised the move.
On March 23, when Mr. Prude was naked in freezing temperatures, officers put a canvas bag around his head to, they say, prevent him from spitting. They held him down, by force, until he lost consciousness.