Disturbing new video from Rochester shows man die during arrest
A disturbing new video shows Rochester police laughing at a naked and cuffed black man with a mesh bag over his head — before shoving his face into the ground until he stops breathing.
Daniel Prude, 41, was left brain-dead and died a week later, reports say.
The medical examiner ruled his death a homicide, caused by “complications of asphyxia in the setting of physical restraint, excited delirium [and] acute phencyclidine [PCP] intoxication,” according to RochesterFirst.com.
The deadly police encounter unfolded on March 23 when cops were called to the 400 block of Jefferson Avenue after Prude’s brother, Joe, had called 911 for help just after 3:15 a.m., according to advocacy group Free The People Roc.
On Tuesday, 12 minutes of body camera videos emerged that starts with Prude yelling while cuffed and naked, sitting in the street and screaming nonsense — as the cops crack jokes.
At about three and a half minutes in, one of the officers puts a mesh bag over Prude’s head, the video shows.
Prude then starts yelling incoherently, shouting “Jesus Christ” at one point and “Come look at this big d–k” — causing the cops to chuckle.
The officers eventually move in and shove him into the pavement, according to the video.
The disturbed man continues to scream in the video, but his words are muffled as his face is pressed into the ground.
A few minutes later, as Prude goes silent and lies motionless, Officer Mark Vaughn takes his hands off Prude’s head, taps him and says, “You good, man?,” the video shows.
“Is he puking? Ugh, he’s puking, just straight water. You see all that water that came out of his mouth? My man, you puking?” Officer Troy Talladay appears to say.
“Oh man, look at his f—ing …,” the cop continues before being cut off by laughter heard in the background of the video.
When EMTs arrive, the cops uncuff Prude, roll him on his back and try chest compression after realizing he has no pulse.
The EMT tells cops not to worry since PCP causes “excited delirium” and says, “I guarantee you that’s why he coded.”
“It’s not your guys’ fault,” she adds.
Neither the county ME nor the Rochester Police Department responded for comment.
The advocacy group, Free The People Roc, identified the officers as Vaughn, Talladay and Fransisco Santiago.
The group called for the officers to be fired as well as all who were at the scene and didn’t stop the arrest.
New York Attorney General Letitia James called the death a “tragedy” in a statement Wednesday — and said she “share[d] the community’s concerns about ensuring a fair and independent investigation into his death and support their right to protest.”
The AG’s office is investigating the incident as per Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Executive Order 147, which was signed in July 2015.
“We will work tirelessly to provide the transparency and accountability that all our communities deserve,” James said.