Rochester investigation into Daniel Prude's death faults mayor and other city officials for keeping it secret

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An attorney tasked with investigating Rochester's response to the death of Daniel Prude, a 41-year-old Black man who died while being restrained by police officers last March, faulted multiple city officials for failing to disclose details about the incident in a new report Friday. 

Prude's family released body camera footage of his death last September, roughly six months after the incident, which shows him naked with a spit hood over his head in the middle of a street as officers pressed his head into the ground and kneeled on his back. He was restrained in this manner for about two minutes before he stopped breathing.

The investigation found that Mayor Warren, then-Police Chief La’Ron Singletary, and two other city officials knew the "the restraint had caused Mr. Prude’s death ... and that the officers were the subjects of a criminal investigation" by mid-April, but failed to disclose this information to the public until Prude's family released the video on Sept. 2 of last year. 

In this image taken from police body camera video provided by Roth and Roth LLP, Rochester police officers hold down Daniel Prude on March 23 in Rochester, N.Y. (Rochester Police via Roth and Roth LLP via AP)

"In the final analysis, the decision not to publicly disclose these facts rested with Mayor Warren, as the elected Mayor of the City of Rochester," the investigation, which was headed by Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel, LLP, found. "But Mayor Warren alone is not responsible for the suppression of the circumstances of the Prude Arrest and Mr. Prude’s death."

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The report says Singletary, who was fired as police chief last October, disclosed but "consistently deemphasized the role of police restraints" in Prude's death, and his "statements did not capture the disturbing tenor of the entire encounter."

Mayor Warren viewed the footage for the first time in early August but was discouraged by Corporation Counsel Timothy Curtin from sharing information about the incident with the public. 

FILE - In this image taken from police body camera video provided by Roth and Roth LLP on Sept. 2, 2020, a Rochester police officer puts a "spit hood" over the head of Daniel Prude, on March 23, 2020, in Rochester, N.Y. (Rochester Police via Roth and Roth LLP via AP, File)

Prude's family eventually acquired the footage through a Freedom of Information Law request, but the release was delayed in part by the police department's fear "that its release might cause civil unrest and violence in the wake of the May 25, 2020, killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis."

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After the video was released in September, several weeks of nightly protests ensued. 

The seven police officers who were involved in Prude's death remain suspended, but a grand jury declined to indict them on any criminal charges last month. 

Lawyers for the officers claim that they were following their training and blamed Prude's death on the drug PCP. 

The Monroe County medical examiner listed the death as a homicide caused by asphyxiation, but cited PCP as a contributing factor.

FILE - In this Sept. 3, 2020, file photo, Joe Prude, brother of Daniel Prude, right, and his son Armin, stand with a picture of Daniel Prude in Rochester, N.Y. Daniel Prude, 41, suffocated after police in Rochester put a "spit hood" over his head while he was being taken into custody. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffre, File) (Associated Press)

Mayor Warren called the grand jury decision "hard for many of us to understand."

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Prude's five children filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Rochester and several police officers this week, alleging that the "attempted cover-up" violated Prude's constitutional rights. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.