Daniel Prude was a Black American who died of asphyxiation while in police custody in Rochester, New York, on March 30, 2020. He died at Strong Memorial Hospital, where he had been taken a week earlier after he stopped breathing after being forcibly restrained by Rochester police on a city street. Daniel Prude’s death made headlines after a video was released in September 2020 showing Rochester, New York, police officers placing a spit mask on Prude’s head, causing him to asphyxiate. Soon after the video was released, the circumstances of Prude’s killing were linked to those of George Floyd, who died on May 25, 2020, in Minneapolis after being pinned to the street by white police officer Derek Chauvin, who pressed his knee on him; nearly two months before Daniel Prude’s death. Daniel Prude’s killing reignited nationwide protests against police violence and racism in the United States.
Wiki/Biography
Daniel T. Prude was born in Chicago in 1979 (at the age of 41 at the time of his death). He grew up in Chicago with his sister, Tamsha Prude. His extended family nicknamed him “Rael”.
Family and Race
Daniel Prude comes from an African American family in Chicago.
Parents and siblings
His mother, Dorothy Prude, is deceased. His father, Joe Louis Prude, lives in Chicago. Prude’s sister, Tameshay Prude, lives in Chicago, and his brother, Joe Prude, lives in Rochester, N.Y. He lost two older brothers a few years before his death.
Daniel Prude’s family speaks at a news conference on September 2, 2020
Relationship with wife
Daniel Prude is unmarried and has no children. There is no news about him.
Police custody and deaths
According to Daniel Prude’s family, he traveled from Chicago to see his brother Joe Prude, who lived in Rochester, New York, on March 22, 2020. Shortly after arriving, that same day, Daniel began to exhibit erratic behavior, including jumping down the stairs headfirst. When he lost control, his brother Joe called 911 for help, and Daniel received a medical consultation at Strong Memorial Hospital and was released later that night; however, a few hours later, Daniel resumed his erratic behavior and fled his brother’s home at 3 a.m. Daniel reportedly stripped off his long underwear, vest, and socks while wandering West Main Street; at the same time, his brother Joe called 911 again for help. According to a passerby, who also recorded Prude’s Facebook Live video, Daniel was begging someone to call 911, and when that person called, Prude ran away. According to the police account, Prude also smashed the windows of a business while walking. Moments later, at about 3:16 a.m., Prude was stopped by nearly a dozen police officers, who ordered him to lie on the ground with his hands behind his back. According to police, after they handcuffed Daniel Prude, they put a spit shield on his head to prevent him from being infected with the coronavirus when he spit at them. Later, Prude lost control and asked to remove the spit shield; the police pushed him down and forcibly held him down for 2 minutes and 15 seconds until he passed out. During this time, Prude was naked in near-freezing temperatures. After falling into a coma, he was rushed to Strong Memorial Hospital and was later declared “brain dead.” After nearly a week on life support, Daniel Prude died on March 30, 2020.
Police officers involved
Officer Mark Vaughn reportedly used his body weight and his hands to press the side of Prude’s head to the pavement. Vaughn later described this in his report as the “hypoglossal technique.” Troy Tallardi was the officer who pressed his knee against Prude’s back. Another officer (unnamed) grabbed his legs. As the pinning began, Prude reportedly said,
You want to kill me.”
After Vaughn released his hand, he asked Prude –
Are you okay now?
However, Prude did not respond. Emergency medical technician Brett Barnes, who was also at the scene, asked the officers to roll Prude over to his back and perform CPR on him when he became unresponsive.
Autopsy report
After toxicology tests were conducted during the autopsy, low levels of phencyclidine, also known as angel dust, were found in Prude’s blood. According to experts, this drug can induce schizophrenia and extremely erratic and violent behavior. The autopsy report ruled that Daniel Prude’s death was a homicide, and the first cause cited was –
Complications of Asphyxia in Physical Restraint Situations”
A separate autopsy report cited other contributing factors, including:
Excited delirium and acute phencyclidine (PCP) intoxication”
His sister also confirmed the presence of PCP in his blood, and she suspected that Prude had unknowingly smoked marijuana laced with PCP at a party before he began behaving erratically in Chicago, so she sent him to visit his brother in Rochester, New York after he began behaving erratically in Chicago.
Publish video clips
Although Daniel Prude died nearly two months before George Floyd, his killing first gained attention after a video was released in September. On August 20, 2020, the city provided a total of 88 minutes of police body camera video of the incident to Prude’s family attorneys after receiving a public records request. In the video, there is no footage of Prude offering any physical resistance to the half dozen or so officers who gathered at the scene. While there are gaps in the video for a few seconds, the full 11 minutes of video show the interaction between Prude and the police. In the video, police are shown in a semicircle with a handcuffed Prude sitting in the middle of Jefferson Avenue. At one point, Prude can be heard yelling,
“Give me the gun. Give me the gun, I mean it!”
Later, the police pushed him down and held him down, making him unable to move. In the video, a police officer named Mark Vaughn pushed the side of Prude’s head to the sidewalk with both hands. In the video, another police officer named Troy Talada pressed his knee on Prude’s torso at one point, and a third officer held his legs. In the video, Prude’s body movements gradually disappeared, and he finally fell silent.
protest
Shortly after the video of Daniel Prude being arrested by police was released, a large protest broke out outside the Rochester Police Headquarters on September 2, 2020, followed by a series of protests in cities across the United States. Daniel Prude’s family condemned the police’s approach in dealing with Prude’s abnormal behavior. His brother Joe Prude wrote in a court document referring to Daniel Prude:
We have a close relationship. We visit each other often and talk on the phone. We share the most intimate parts of our lives with each other.”
Joe Prude called Daniel’s death “a cold-blooded murder,” but he said
I called my brothers hoping they would get help instead of being lynched. How many brothers will it take for society to understand that this behavior has to stop?”
In a statement issued on September 2, 2020, New York Attorney General Letitia James said,
Daniel Prude’s death is a tragedy, and I offer my deepest condolences to his family. I share the community’s desire to ensure a fair and independent investigation into his death, and to support their right to protest. As with every investigation, we will follow the facts of this case and ensure a full and thorough investigation of all parties involved. We will work tirelessly to provide the transparency and accountability that all communities deserve.”
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education