A New York grand jury has declined to issue any criminal charges against Rochester police officers for their part in the death of Daniel Prude.
What We Know:
- Prude, a 41-year-old Black man, died days after being restrained by police while suffering a mental health crisis back in March of 2020. Attorney General Letitia James announced the jury’s decision in a press conference, acknowledging that people would “rightfully be devastated and disappointed” by the outcome.
- An autopsy report by Monroe County Medical Examiner Nadia Granger states that Prude died of “complications of asphyxia in the setting of physical restraint,” with the drug Phencyclidine or PCP listed as a contributing factor. Examiners found no evidence of trauma from blocking of Prude’s windpipe or a blood vessel. However, the report does suggest that the PCP in Prude’s system made him vulnerable to cardiac arrest, which cut off oxygen to his brain.
- Another expert witness assessed the officers’ pinning techniques as reasonable and not an example of deadly force. The officers’ involved argued that they were simply following protocol implemented by the city. “Let’s not indict a police officer at the lowest level so the public feels or the family feels that there is some semblance of justice,” said the president of the local police association, Michael Mazzeo.
- Prude’s family attorney Elliot Shields said that the family is “baffled and confused as to how this decision was reached. […] The only explanation is that the grand jury didn’t want to hold these officers accountable, but instead, they pointed the finger at the city.”
- Current laws in New York allow use-of-force on the terms of “subjective, simple necessity to one of absolute, last resort, exhausting all other non-lethal means before resorting to deadly force.” Also, grand jury secrecy laws ultimately prevented James from stating what crimes the grand jury was asked to consider or to give any details.
- Prude’s death has garnered nationwide attention, with activists calling for the involved officers to be terminated and convicted of criminal charges. Officers Josiah Harris, Michael Magri, Paul Ricotta, Francisco Santiago, Andrew Specksgoor, Troy Taladay, and Mark Vaugh have been suspended while the investigation continues and the city’s police chief, La’Ron Singletary, resigned from his post amidst the backlash.
Despite the grand jury’s decision, many continue to protest for Prude across the nation.
