Schumer calls for accountability in Daniel Prude death in Rochester

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) called for “full accountability” in the death of Daniel Prude, a 41-year-old Black man who died of asphyxiation in March following an encounter with police.

“What happened to Daniel Prude is wrong,” Schumer tweeted. “His tragic death requires full accountability for any and all wrong-doing and an immediate and complete investigation, which @NewYorkStateAG is currently doing.”

What happened to Daniel Prude is wrong.

His tragic death requires full accountability for any and all wrong-doing and an immediate and complete investigation, which @NewYorkStateAG is currently doing.

The Senate must pass the #JusticeInPolicing Act NOW.https://t.co/NbGSz9pYVK

— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) September 3, 2020

Schumer then called for the Senate to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which the House passed in June. Republicans have declined to take up the measure in the Senate and have pushed their own police reform bill, which they also unveiled in June.

Floyd, the bill’s namesake, died on May 25 after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. His death sparked consistent unrest across the country for months. 

Prude’s death regained attention this week after his family released videos and records of the incident.

Police in Rochester, N.Y., detained Prude in mid-March after he ran naked through the streets while experiencing some sort of mental distress. He died a week later after being taken off life support, The Associated Press reported.

In the video released by his family, officers are seen slamming Prude’s face into the pavement and placing a so-called spit hood over his head. A medical examiner ruled his death was a homicide as a result of “complications of asphyxia in the setting of physical restraint.”

City officials said Wednesday that they had not released details about the incident because it was pending investigation from the state attorney general.