Body camera footage showing officers cuffing 41-year-old Daniel Prude surfaced recently, sparking furore online especially with the previous highly publicised and controversial deaths of George Floyd and Jacob Blake at the hands of police officers.
Stopped breathing while being detained
Prude actually died on Mar. 30, two months before Floyd's death.
However, footage of his last moments of consciousness on Mar. 23 were only revealed recently during investigations into the case.
The roughly two-minute clip has been circulated widely online.
In it, police officers in Rochester, New York, can be seen detaining Prude, who is completely naked.
Officers ask to him to get on the ground and put his hands behind his back, which Prude complies with.
The officer with the body camera can be heard asking Prude to "chill out man, don't move".
They cuff him, and the scene then cuts to Prude with a white hood over his head.
The officer with the body camera then pins his head to the ground with hands.
Reviews of the footage during investigations revealed that two other officers were at the scene — the second officer used his knee to hold down Prude's torso, while the third held down his legs.
The New York Times reported that this went on for two minutes and 15 seconds, before officers noticed that Prude was no longer moving or speaking.
The officers also noticed that he had thrown up water onto the street.
Paramedics were called around five minutes after the hood was put on. According to the Democrat and Chronicle, officers were heard chatting with each other during this time, but did not mention the fact that Prude was not moving.
Prude was administered CPR and taken to the hospital when paramedics realised he was not breathing. There, he remained for seven days, brain dead, before he was taken off life support on Mar. 30.
Died of asphyxiation
According to NYT, his family had first called 911 after Prude reportedly began experiencing mental health problems.
He was running on the streets and had stripped off his clothes before being detained.
The hood had been placed on his head to prevent Prude, who was agitated at the time, from spitting on the officers.
At that point in time, New York was in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Additionally, Prude reportedly claimed that he was infected with Covid-19, which likely raised officers' concerns, the Democrat and Chronicle reported.
Monroe County's medical examiner has since ruled Prude's death as homicide caused by "complications of asphyxia in the setting of physical restraint".
"A tragedy"
Prude's family and other locals have since called for justice over his death, saying his death was a murder and demanded the officers involved be fired.
Currently, the three officers are still on active duty.
Activists have also questioned why news and footage of the incident were revealed so late, claiming a cover-up by the police.
However, Mayor of Rochester Lovely Warren has since hit back at suggestions that she lacked transparency, stating that she was precluded from being involved until the Attorney-General's Office investigation had wrapped up.
Attorney General Letitia James called Prude's death "a tragedy" and promised a "complete and thorough examination of all relevant parties".
Prude's brother, Joe Prude has also called his death a "cold-blooded murder".
"I placed a phone call to get my brother help, not to have my brother lynched. How many more brothers have to die before society understands this needs to stop?"
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