Protesting has broken out in Rochester, New York, over the recent release of body camera footage related to an interaction Rochester police officers had back in March with a 41-year-old man named Daniel Prude, who died seven days later.
One man upset about the incident and the alleged cover-up by city officials suggested to a reporter on camera Thursday that racially-charged violence would be the response if “justice” does not come.
“Justice,” outlined by the man, includes the removal of Rochester Police Chief La’Ron Singletary, who is black, and the arrest of the officers involved in the interaction.
“We want badges, we want Chief of Police badges,” the man told Spectrum News reported Brianna Hamblin. “We want it because they swept this under the rug.”
“Black lives do matter, okay? We want to see those officers arrested, and if we don’t — We tired. We are tired. We tired of it, man,” he continued. “They act like black people — we want justice all over the world, we want equal pay, we want equal rights, when you go to court, we wanna be treated equal.”
“It’s unequal all the way across the board,” he said. “We tired of it. Black lives do matter, okay? We tired of these police killing people.”
“We gonna put matters into our own hands if justice don’t come,” he told Hamblin. “I’m being honest with you. We got a 100,000 deep, ready. Ya’ll need to know that.”
When the reporter asks the man his name, he speeds off and seemingly tells her, “Ya’ll don’t need to know that.”
Hamblin captioned the video post: “Man passing by the memorial saying he wants the officers who arrested Daniel Prude to resign because ‘they swept this under the rug.'”
WATCH:
Man passing by the memorial saying he wants the officers who arrested Daniel Prude to resign because “they swept this under the rug.” @SPECNewsROC pic.twitter.com/irsWTV8jZN
— Brianna Hamblin (@BriReports) September 3, 2020
According to media reports, officers were alerted to Prude’s erratic, destructive, and potentially self-harming behavior by at least two people, one of whom was his brother, Joe Prude.
During the interaction, Prude was completely nude and spewing vulgarities, spitting, telling officers to give him their guns, and seemingly high on PCP. While officers were restraining Prude as they were waiting for an ambulance, the man fell unconscious and stopped breathing. Prude was resuscitated on the way to the hospital but was left with severe brain damage. His family took him off life support about a week later.
An autopsy report from the Monroe County Medical Examiner’s Office, according to WXXI News, “listed the cause of Prude’s death as ‘complications of asphyxia in the setting of physical restraint due to excited delirium due to acute phencyclidine intoxication,’ an indication that Prude might have been high on PCP.”
Since Wednesday, there have been demonstrations over Prude’s death in Rochester and, though far away, in New York City, as well.
Daniel Prude, say it again #DanielPrude pic.twitter.com/ytnEUqQgDo
— Will Cleveland (@WillCleveland13) September 4, 2020
Cops advancing again, water bottles flying in from protesters pic.twitter.com/0UozJxXtmf
— Will Cleveland (@WillCleveland13) September 4, 2020
Organizers have asked the crowd to lay on the ground or take a knee in honor of Daniel Prube. #ROC #Rochester pic.twitter.com/ADA8VtJS4L
— Geoffery Rogers (@GeofferyRogers) September 3, 2020
Related: Daniel Prude: Police Body-Cam Footage, Autopsy Released. Here’s What We Know