An investigation into the official response to Daniel Prude’s death in the police’s suffocating police rally last year in Rochester, New York, has accused the mayor and former police chief of keeping critical details of the case secret for months and lying to the public. have about what they know.
The report, commissioned by Rochester City Council and released Friday, said Mayor Lovely Warren lied at a news conference in September when she said she only learned in August that officers physically restrained Prude during the arrest. led to his death on March 23, 2020..
The report said that the day officers exercised physical self-control, and in mid-April, she, then-police chief La’Ron Singletary, and other officials were aware that Prude was dead and that the officers were under criminal investigation.
“Ultimately, the decision not to disclose these facts rests with Mayor Warren as the elected mayor of the city of Rochester,” reads the report, written by attorney Andrew G. Celli Jr., New York. Mayor Warren alone is not responsible for suppressing the circumstances of the arrest and death of Mr. Prude not. ”
Warren said in a statement that she welcomed the report “because it enables our community to move forward.”
“Throughout the city government, we have recognized our responsibility, recognized that change is needed and acted,” she said, referring to various measures on police practices and discipline.
In her statement, Warren did not address the specific assessments of the report on her own behavior.
A special council to the city administration disputes that Warren lied.
The mayor spoke based on the facts known to her at the time and if what she said was not true, it was because Singletary had misled her, Carrie Cohen said.
According to the report, Singletary told the mayor the officers kept Prude in check, but the chief “consistently emphasized” the role of restraints in Prude’s death and his statements to officials did not capture the disturbing tenor of the entire meeting.
Singletary’s characterization may have influenced the fact that city officials are considering the case, the report said.
A spokesman for Singletary said Singletary, under an initial review of the report, was “truthful in his statements” to Warren and other city officials.
“He never took part in a cover-up, nor did he insignificantly spoil the circumstances surrounding Prude’s death,” Michael Tallon said in a statement.
“When the mayor asked him to lie, he refused and he announced his resignation the next day,” he added.
Warren told the public Singletary initially told her that Prude’s death was an “overdose of drugs”, but Friday’s report said he never told her. Singletary, meanwhile, made “false statements by mistake” when he was able to correct Warren’s claim during a news conference in September that she had not been informed that Prude’s death had been decided as a murder. Singletary is said to have told her of the finding on April 13th.
In addition, the report states that a city attorney in August discouraged Warren from disclosing Prude’s arrest or initiating disciplinary action against officers after she first saw a video camera of the meeting.
The lawyer wrongly said that the city could not take action against the officers while the State Attorney General’s office was investigating Prude’s death, the report said.
“There are no surprises in it. That confirms most of what I already knew, ‘said attorney Elliot Shields, who represents Prude’s brother, Joe.
“What shows me on a larger scale is the systemic failures of the city,” he said.
The body camera video, released by the Prude family in early September, shows Prude handcuffed and bald with a spittoon over his head while an officer presses his face to the ground while another officer knee pressed to his back. The officers held him for about two minutes until he stopped breathing. He was taken off for life a week later.
A grand jury last month refused to charge the officers involved.
Lawyers for the seven police officers suspended due to Prude’s death said officers closely followed their training that night, using a control technique known as ‘segmentation’. They claim that Prude’s use of PCP, which caused irrational behavior, was ‘the main cause’ of his death.
The Rochester City Council approved the independent investigation into the handling of Prude’s death within days of the video being released, and voted to give investigators the power to sue the city departments.
Celli noted in the report that the decision to notify the public of an important event is “a policy judgment, and a political, not a legal” one, and that there are no written rules or standards in Rochester is what the mayor or other officials in such matters.
“It is not for the Special Council investigator to rule on whether the decisions by Rochester officials not to disclose the arrest and death of Daniel Prude were right or wrong,” Celli wrote. “The judges of the question are the citizens of the city of Rochester and the general public.”
The report also confirms that Rochester police commanders urged city officials to make public the footage of Prude’s suffocating death because they feared a violent setback if it were to appear during protests over the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis on 25 May.
In an June 4 email, Deputy Chief Mark Simmons cites the ‘current climate’ in the city and country and urges Singletary to press the city’s lawyers to deny a Prude family lawyer’s public record request for the footage of the encounter that led to his death. .
“We certainly do not want people to misinterpret the officers’ actions and associate this incident with the recent killings of unarmed black men by law enforcement at the national level,” Simmons wrote. “It would simply be a false narrative and could consequently cause hostility and potentially violent setbacks in this community.”
“Totally agree,” Singletary replied according to the email.
Rochester officials released along with police reports and other documents last fall. Warren fired Singletary and suspended city attorney Tim Curtin, director of the corporation, and director of communications, Justin Roj, for 30 days without pay because of the case.
Prude’s death led to several weeks of protests at night, prompting Warren to resign. His family has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that the police department wants to disguise the true nature of Prude’s death.