Rochester, New York, Mayor Lovely Warren suspended seven police officers Thursday for their involvement in the March death of Daniel Prude, a Black man with mental health problems. The case received little attention until Wednesday, when Prude's family showed footage from police body cameras obtained through public records requests. The video shows police putting a spit bag over Prude's head after he's handcuffed, then holding his face to the ground for two minutes, until he became unresponsive. Police, responding to a call from Prude's brother, found him running naked in the street.
Prude died after his family took him off life support, seven days after police held him to the ground with the bag over his head. The Monroe County Office of the Medical Examiner ruled the death a homicide caused by "complications of asphyxia in the setting of physical restraint," with excited delirium and acute PCP intoxication as contributing factors. Prude's brother compared it to a "lynching."
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