Documents Reveal How the Police Kept Daniel Prude's Death Quiet
Documents Reveal How the Police Kept Daniel Prude’s Death Quiet
Officials in Rochester, N.Y., spent months trying to suppress video footage of the police encounter that led to Mr. Prude’s death.
By Michael Wilson and Edgar Sandoval
Sept. 15, 2020Updated 7:32 p.m. ET
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/15/nyregion/rochester-police-daniel-prude.html
ROCHESTER, N.Y. —<snip>
“We certainly do not want people to misinterpret the officers’ actions and conflate this incident with any recent killings of unarmed Black men by law enforcement nationally,” a deputy Rochester police chief wrote in an email to his boss. “That would simply be a false narrative, and could create animosity and potentially violent blowback in this community as a result.”
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The dozens of emails, police reports and internal reviews reveal an array of delay tactics — from citing hospital privacy laws to blaming an overworked employee’s backlog in processing videos — used in that mission.
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“Make him a suspect,” it read.
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Mayor Warren has said she was not told of the struggle with officers that preceded Mr. Prude’s cardiac arrest — only that he had suffered a drug overdose.
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Days later, the Rochester police concluded its own investigation: “The officers’ actions and conduct displayed when dealing with Prude appear to be appropriate and consistent with their training,” an internal report stated.
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Michael Wilson has been a reporter and columnist at The Times since 2002, writing stories for the New York, National, International and Arts sections. @MWilsonNYT
Edgar Sandoval is a reporter on the Metro desk at The New York Times, where he covers criminal justice. @edjsandov
There are more details on the way Ploice tried to bury the truth. The description of the arrest itself is hair raising.
The video is detailed - TRIGGER WARNING!!!!
