https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/2020/09/02/daniel-prude-rochester-ny-police-died-march-2020-after-officers-restrained-him/5682948002/

Steve Orr

Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

September 2, 2020

A Black man died of asphyxiation earlier this year after Rochester police officers trying to take him into protective custody pinned him to the ground while restraining him.

The incident occurred in March — two months before George Floyd's very similar death in Minneapolis touched off nationwide protests — yet it didn't become public until now.

The curtain was lifted on the death of 41-year-old Daniel T. Prude at a late-morning news conference Wednesday at which Prude's family and local activists called his death a murder and demanded that the officers involved be fired and charged in his homicide.

"We are in need of accountability for the wrongful death and murder of Daniel Prude. He was treated inhumanely and without dignity," said Ashley Gantt, a community organizer from Free the People Roc and the New York Civil Liberties Union. "These officers killed someone and are still patrolling in our community."

The case also brought calls from activists for changes to policing, including an end to the practice of having police officers respond to mental health calls.

Gantt said what happened to Prude was not an isolated event.

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