ALBANY, N.Y. — The world saw video of the death of Daniel Prude, the 41-year-old Black man suffering a crisis who died on a cold Rochester street last March, naked and handcuffed with a spit hood on his head while police put physical pressure on his head and body.
The medical examiner ruled it a homicide, caused in part by asphyxiation, the controversial diagnosis of “excited delirium,” and PCP use.
But when assessing the evidence, Monroe County grand jurors reached a conclusion that’s common in cases where police use force: They declined to bring an indictment.
Over and over again, New York prosecutors or grand juries have assessed civilian deaths at the hands of police and determined the evidence isn’t strong enough to sustain a criminal case against the officers involved.
State Attorney General Letitia James has her own explanation as to why: State law and decades of court precedent give police officers significant leeway when it comes to using potentially lethal force.
“The system was built to protect and shield officers from wrongdoing and accountability,” James said Tuesday after announcing the Prude grand jury’s decision. “The system too often allows officers to use deadly force unnecessarily and without consequence and that is a system that at its core is broken.”
New York Attorney General Letitia James announces that a grand jury has chosen not to criminally charge Rochester police officers whose restraint of Daniel Prude may have caused his death. (Photo: Shawn Dowd/Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)
The state Attorney General’s Office has taken on 42 cases in which police are suspected of causing the death of an unarmed civilian since 2015, when Gov. Andrew Cuomo first granted the office the ability to investigate such incidents.
A handful of those cases — including Prude’s — have been presented to a grand jury or gone to trial. None of them have resulted in a single conviction, either because the grand jury declined to indict or because the state lost in court.
James’ office issued a report Tuesday explaining the circumstances of Prude’s death, which was captured on police body cameras and spurred protests across Rochester and the nation.
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Because of New York’s secrecy laws, James has not been allowed to discuss what evidence was presented to the grand jury, though a Monroe County judge ruled the minutes can soon be unsealed.
But in the report, James’ office included a general discussion of the challenges in successfully bringing a case against a police officer who used force.
The report walks through all the long and legally complicated questions prosecutors and a grand jury would have to consider to determine if an officer using force can be criminally culpable for someone’s death.
Among them:
- Did the officers have legal justification for their actions?
- Did the officers intentionally or recklessly cause the death? Were they acting with criminal negligence, meaning they grossly failed to perceive the risk of their action?
- Did they use “physical force” or “deadly physical force”?
- If they used “deadly physical force,” did the officers have a reasonable justification?
Taken together, those questions form a maze grand jurors must navigate, requiring them to try to understand the officers’ mindset and intent, which James has criticized as being “subjective.”
On Tuesday, James suggested state law is weighted toward the officers and needs to be changed.
No charges in Daniel Prude’s death: But grand jury records approved for release. Here’s why that matters
Daniel Prude, a 41-year-old Black man died of asphyxiation complications after being pinned to the ground by police in Rochester, New York.
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Specifically, James said the state laws must shift to ensure the use of lethal force goes from a “subjective, simple necessity to one of absolute last resort, exhausting all other non-lethal means before resorting to deadly force.”
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Standard of force
In an interview last year, Alvin Bragg, who led the Attorney General’s Special Investigations and Prosecution Unit from its inception in 2015 through 2018, said there are “some challenges in the law.”
“The standard of force that these cases are assessed under I think needs to be made clearer and less deferential to officers,” said Bragg, who is now running for Manhattan district attorney.
“There are some issues on obligations to provide medical care and whether someone is fleeing. I think there are some legal obligations that need to be clarified by the Legislature to make it easier to hold officers accountable.”
So far, the Rochester Police Locust Club, the union representing local officers, has declined to comment on the grand jury’s decision, promising a full reaction within a week.
Attorneys for the officers at the scene of the Prude incident have defended their clients, noting the “segmenting” technique used — in which one officer put pressure on Prude’s head and another put a knee on his body — was an acceptable response when Prude tried to stand up.
“We’ve talked with experts in the use of these defensive tactics and they say this was in compliance,” said Matthew Rich, an attorney for the officers.
Losing faith
At her news conference Tuesday in Rochester, James said she knew the Prude family would be disappointed by the outcome. She promised a “multi-faceted approach” to change laws and policies in the coming months to address what she sees as issues in state law.
“My office presented an extensive case and we sought a different outcome than the one grand jury handed us today,” she said. “We made every attempt to demonstrate the facts, but ultimately we have to respect the decision.”
A group of Rochester-area state lawmakers have introduced a series of bills in response to Prude’s death, including one that would ban the use of “spit hoods” — the head covering placed on Prude to keep him from spitting on police — and another that would create mental health response units to respond to people experience a mental-health or substance-abuse crisis, such as Prude.
‘System is broken’: Black community expresses anger, fatigue after officers cleared in Daniel Prude’s death
“Right now, my community is hurting, and we have to put them first,” said Sen. Samra Brouk, D-Rochester. “This package of legislation is an important step in responding to both the acute injury and the lasting, generational trauma at the hands of law enforcement that we have experienced here in Rochester.”
Mike Johnson, an organizer with Save Rochester — Black Lives Matter, said Tuesday it felt like activists had “been led on for so long and just to see this outcome, it’s infuriating.”
“(It) really makes you lose faith in a future for an equitable America for our children,” he said. “It’s really concerning.”
After the decision Tuesday, James met privately with the Prude family as well as a 9-year-old girl who was recently pepper sprayed by Rochester police.
Johnson said James should take more time to hear from local residents who are “living in this state of disenfranchisement, who are living in states of poverty” and who are living in neighborhoods with aggressive policing.
He said James offered “nice words” about being determined to get justice. But, he questioned, “Where did that get us?”
“It seems like it was out of her hands,” Johnson said.
Contributing: Tiffany Cusaac-Smith, New York State Team
Follow Jon Campbell on Twitter at @JonCampbellGAN.
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