Attorneys representing Rochester Police Officers who were suspended after the death of Daniel Prude said today their clients acted correctly according to their training during the 11 minutes they spent with him.
Prude suffocated in the officers’ custody after being restrained, and he died a week later in the hospital. He stopped breathing in police custody according to body camera footage released last month, triggering an ongoing series of demonstrations and calls for complete disbanding and reform of the Rochester Police Department.
Members of the group Free the People ROC protested outside the Locust Club hall where the press conference was held. Four were arrested for refusing to leave private property. Others said the attorneys were attempting to smear Daniel Prude by claiming that he alone was responsible for his death. They said the attorneys were ignoring the Medical Examiner’s report which said Prude was suffocated and ruled the death a homicide.
The attorneys held a news conference at which they showed training videos which the officers followed that night, when they encountered Prude running naked down Jefferson Avenue and apparently having a mental health situation. Attorney Michael Schiano said they did this to show why the officers reacted as they did to Prude, who may have been high on PCP when they approached him. Schiano says the officers handcuffed Prude for his own safety, because he was running around in the street and “chewing on garbage cans.” He says Prude was at risk of being hurt by a car.
He says officers did not seek to cover Daniel Prude with a blanket. although he was naked in a snowstorm, because he was hyperthermic from PCP use and a blanket might actually have harmed him. He says the officers had no blanket with them, anyway. The attorneys say Prude never shivered or said he was cold.
Schiano says a controversial “spit sock” was placed over Prude’s head because he was spitting, and the officers feared he might have COVID-19. Schiano says it was the height of the pandemic in New York and the officers had no personal protective gear. A truck driver interviewed by police had told them Prude had spoken of having coronavirus. The attorneys say it’s easier to breathe through one than a surgical mask that we’re wearing for coronavirus.
Schiano says the officers called an ambulance for Daniel Prude within one minute of their arrival on scene, and that ambulance arrived within four minutes. He says the officers did everything as they had been trained to do.
The attorneys said their clients have been mischaracterized, and they released both police video and the training videos to show why they acted that night the way they did.