New York police used ‘spit hood’ on Black man who
died of asphyxiation
The man, who was experiencing mental health issues,
was handcuffed and naked when officers put a hood over his head
Associated
Press
Thu 3 Sep
2020 01.28 BSTLast modified on Thu 3 Sep 2020 03.00 BST
A Black man
who had run naked through the streets of a western New York city died of
asphyxiation after a group of police officers put a hood over his head, then
pressed his face into the pavement for two minutes, according to video and
records released Wednesday by the man’s family.
Daniel
Prude died on 30 March after he was taken off life support, seven days after
the encounter with police in Rochester. His death received no public attention
until Wednesday, when his family held a news conference and released police
body camera video and written reports they obtained through a public records
request.
“How did
you see him and not directly say, ‘The man is defenseless, buck naked on the
ground.’ He’s cuffed up already. Come on. How many more brothers gotta die for
society to understand that this needs to stop?” Prude’s brother, Joe Prude,
asked at a news conference Wednesday.
Daniel
Prude was from Chicago and had just arrived in Rochester for a visit with his
family. Police responded after Joe Prude called 911 to report that his brother
had left his house and was experiencing mental health issues.
The videos
show Prude, who had taken off his clothes, complying when police ask him to get
on the ground and put his hands behind his back. Prude is agitated and shouting
and officers let him writhe as he sits on the pavement in handcuffs for a few
moments while a light snow falls.
Then, they
put a white “spit hood” over his head, a device intended to protect officers
from a detainee’s saliva. At the time, New York was in the early days of the
coronavirus pandemic. Prude demands they remove it.
Then the
officer’s slam Prude’s head into the street. One officer holds his head down
against the pavement with both hands, saying, “Stop spitting,” as Prude’s
shouts turn to whimpers and grunts. Another officer places a knee on his back.
The officers appear to become concerned when they notice water coming out of
Prude’s mouth.
“My man.
You puking?” one says.
Prude stops
moving and falls silent. One officer notes that he’s been out, naked, in the
street for some time. Another remarks, “He feels pretty cold.” His head had
been held down by an officer for just over two minutes. Medics can then be seen
on the video performing CPR before he’s loaded into an ambulance.
A medical
examiner concluded that Prude’s death was a homicide caused by “complications
of asphyxia in the setting of physical restraint”. The report lists excited
delirium and acute intoxication by phencyclidine, or PCP, as contributing
factors.
Letitia
James, the New York attorney general, said Wednesday that an investigation into
Prude’s death by her office is continuing.
Spit hoods
have been scrutinized as a factor in the deaths of several prisoners in the US
and other countries in recent years.
One officer
wrote that they put the hood on Prude because he was spitting continuously in
the direction of officers and they were concerned about coronavirus.
Still,
activists demanded that officers involved with Prude’s death be prosecuted on
murder charges and that they be removed from the department while the
investigation proceeds. Protesters gathered Wednesday outside Rochester’s
Public Safety Building, which serves as police headquarters.
“The police
have shown us over and over again that they are not equipped to handle
individuals with mental health concerns. These officers are trained to kill,
and not to deescalate. These officers are trained to ridicule, instead of
supporting Mr Daniel Prude,” said Ashley Gantt, of Free the People ROC, at the
news conference with Prude’s family.
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