Rochester's Mayor Suspends Five Officers in Death of Black Man Last March

There's unrest in Rochester, New York after another claim of deadly police brutality against a black man. Video of the incident now surfacing more than five months after the fact.

Community members are demanding to know why it took so long for it to come to light.

Back on March 23, 41-year-old Daniel Prude had taken off all his clothing and was running naked through the streets of Rochester.  His brother called 9-1-1 for help.

"Me calling out to give him help. Didn't want for someone to kill him," said Joe Prude. "That wasn't what my call was about. My call was strictly for help."

When officers arrived, the exchange started off calm but then escalated. Officers put a so-called spit hood over Prude's head, then held him with his face pressed against the ground for two minutes until he stopped breathing.

Prude died seven days later after doctors took him off life support. His death was ruled a homicide.

"My father posed no threat to anybody," said Tashyra Prude. "He was told to get on the ground. He got on the ground. He was told to put his hands behind his back. He put his hands behind his back. He complied with all orders. My father should not be dead right now."

"This is strictly based on race, strictly based on the fact that they saw a black person and decided 'Well, hey, he doesn't deserve to live," she added.

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"Mr. Prude needed therapeutic intervention," said community activist Rev. Lewis Stewart. "Instead what he got was execution."

Amid demonstrations on the streets of Rochester and elsewhere - like one in New York's Time Square where a car drove through protestors, Rochester's mayor announced she was suspending the seven officers involved.

"Mr. Daniel Prude was failed by our police department, our mental healthcare system, our society, and he was failed by me," said Mayor Lovely Warren. 

The mayor claims she was not made aware of the officers' actions until just last month. The head of the police union disputes that and insists the officers' actions were by the book.

"To me, it looks like they were watching the training in front of them and doing step by step what the training says to do," said union president Michael Mazzeo.

Union officials say the hood was used to protect officers in these COVID times against Prude's saliva. 

The incident went public after the family's attorney obtained the bodycam video of the arrest through a Freedom of Information Act request.  An investigation through the New York Attorney General's office is ongoing.