ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The city’s police chief and several of his department’s highest ranking officials resigned or were demoted on Tuesday in the aftermath of the death of Daniel Prude, a Black man who suffocated after he had been placed in a hood by Rochester police officers and pinned to the ground. The sudden retirements of the police chief, La’Ron D. Singletary, the deputy chief, Joseph Morabito, and a commander, as well as the demotions of another deputy chief and commander, came three days after the state attorney general announced that she would impanel a grand jury to consider evidence in Mr. Prude’s death. “As a man of integrity, I will not sit idly by while outside entities attempt to destroy my character,” the police chief said in a statement. He later added: “The mischaracterization and the politicization of the actions that I took after being informed of Mr. Prude’s death is not based on facts, and is not what I stand for.”Officials in Rochester had not publicly disclosed the death of Mr. Prude, 41, until an open records request by his family prompted the city to turn over officers’ body camera footage that revealed his struggle, naked and hooded, at the hands of the police. Mr. Prude’s family in recent days has accused officials of covering up his death to protect the police officers involved.

Source: New York Times September 08, 2020 19:38 UTC