ROCHESTER, NY — One of the children of a Black man who suffocated after police in New York’s third-largest city put a “spit hood” over his head said he was the loving father.
Tashyra Prude described her dad, Daniel Prude, as a protector.
“He would do anything for his family, anything for his kids,” she said. “He had a bright personality. He’s the type of person that if you’re going through something, you go to him and he’s the one who will give you words of encouragement. He’ll be the one to tell a joke to make you laugh if he knows you’re having a bad day.”
Daniel Prude died March 30 after he was taken off life support, seven days after the encounter with police in Rochester.
He had been taken into custody for a mental health evaluation about eight hours before the encounter that led to his death.
His death received no public attention until Wednesday, when his family released police body camera video they obtained.
After seeing the video, Joe Prude — the victim’s brother — described what happened as a cold blooded murder.
“What they did was mock him, tease him and basically led him on to be more agitated in his state of being where he was,” he said.”Who does that? Nobody but people with intentions only to harm somebody.”
The city halted its investigation into Prude’s death when state Attorney General Letitia James’ office began its own investigation in April. James said Wednesday that investigation is continuing.
In a previous version of a story September 3, 2020, about the death of Daniel Prude, The Associated Press quoted a woman who identified herself as an aunt of Prude. The AP is removing quotes and information attributed to her from stories because it can no longer verify her identity.
