Rochester, New York reached a $12 settlement with the family of Daniel Prude, a black man who died of asphyxiation after being hooded and pinned to the ground by police, the city announced on Thursday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th October, 2022) Rochester, New York reached a $12 settlement with the family of Daniel Prude, a black man who died of asphyxiation after being hooded and pinned to the ground by police, the city announced on Thursday.
"After more than two years, the City of Rochester has come to a settlement agreement with the estate of Daniel Prude. In this agreement, the City will pay the estate the sum of $12 million. Given the costs of continued litigation, this settlement was the best decision," Mayor Malik Evans said in a statement quoted by news 10. "It would have cost taxpayers even more to litigate, and would have placed a painful toll on our community. It is now time to look forward so we may work together and focus our efforts on Rochester's future."
According to a court filing, the city of Rochester agreed to pay Prude's family $12 million with the majority going to his five children.
On March 23, 2020, Prude, who was visiting from Chicago, ran out of his brother's house acting erratically. His brother, Joe, called 911 while the police department also received a separate call about a naked man running in the street and shouting that he had the coronavirus.
Video footage shows that after Prude began spitting, they covered his head with a spit hood, pinned him face-down to the ground, and pushed his head into the pavement. Prude died days later in a hospital after being taken off life support. The county medical examiner ruled Prude's death a homicide caused by asphyxiation, but a grand jury declined to bring charges against the officers.
The public became aware of Prude's death when his family and lawyer released videotape of the incident months after Prude's death. That sparked sustained protests around Rochester and demands for police accountability.
The fallout included former Rochester mayor Lovely Warren firing then-Police Chief Police Chief La'Ron Singletary and several members of his command staff and Warren and Singletary keeping critical details of the case secret for months and lying to the public about what they knew.
