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U-Haul Trucks Set Ablaze By Protesters Owned By Black Man Who Placed ‘Black Owned’ Sign Outside. He’s ‘Livid’

Mr. Barksdale placed a "Proud to be Black Owned" sign outside the business, which was clearly ignored by rioters allegedly protesting racial injustice.

   DailyWire.com
Hundreds of demonstrators march to the City Hall over the police killing of Daniel Prude in Rochester, New York, United States on September 5, 2020.
Zach D Roberts/NurPhoto via Getty Images

A Rochester man is “livid” after his business was targeted by protesters ostensibly outraged over the death of Daniel Prude, a black man who died about a week after an interaction with the Rochester Police Department (RPD) back in March.

As more violent rioting took place Saturday night, lasting into early Sunday morning, protesters torched a store that encompasses a U-Haul service — a store owned by a black man — leaving at least three of the vehicles destroyed by the alleged arson.

WHEC News 10 journalist Charles Molineaux captured photos of the destruction and the business owner, Jesse Barksdale.

According to the photos, it appears Mr. Barksdale placed a “Proud to be Black Owned” sign outside the business, which was clearly ignored by rioters allegedly protesting racial injustice.

“Multiple trucks on fire at U-Haul on State Street at Brown. Rochester fire just arriving now,” Molineaux reported early Sunday morning.

“Three U-Haul trucks destroyed at J-Ribs on State Street,” the reported said.  (JRibs also provides U-Haul services.)

“Owner Jesse Barksdale says he was bounced out of bed to respond,” Molineaux reported. “Livid over the destruction of his business.”

Some of the estimated 1,500 protesters that took to the streets over Prude’s death shot fireworks at officers, threw rocks, and apparently engaged in arson.

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.”

As highlighted by WXXI News, police reports indicate Prude had apparently “gone on a destructive tear,” “smashing out the windows of several storefronts, and ranting about having the coronavirus” before police came in contact with him.

The Daily Wire reported Friday on the interaction with Prude and law enforcement from March:

Back in March, at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, Daniel Prude, a black male, interacted with officers from the Rochester Police Department (RPD) in New York after at least two people called 911 about Prude’s behavior and welfare, included Prude’s own brother, Joe Prude.

Police reports indicate Prude was restrained by officers while waiting for the ambulance the cops summoned — video (below) suggests this was done soon after Prude told officers, “Give me your gun, I need it.”

As noted by Forbes, Prude “had been taken to the local hospital for suicidal thoughts about eight hours before his encounter with police on March 22.”

As cops were physically restraining the man for about two minutes, body camera footage (which can be viewed below) and media reports suggest the 41-year-old threw up and loss consciousness. He was reportedly resuscitated on the way to the hospital but likely suffered severe brain damage and was pulled from life support about a week later by his family.

Notably, Prude has a mesh-like hood placed over his head, dubbed a “spit hood.” The device is used to protect officers from saliva. Prude was repeatedly spitting and reportedly telling people he had COVID. (The interaction with police was in March, at the height of the novel coronavirus pandemic.)

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