Daniel Prude case: No charges on police officers who made the arrest

A grand jury in US courts gave a collective verdict on Tuesday of not pressing charges on the police officers who were involved in the arrest of Daniel Prude, a black man who was killed while being detained by the officers during a mental health emergency. 

Letitia James, the Attorney General of New York said, “I’m extremely disappointed,” while explaining that the final decision was in the hands of the appointed jurors. She added, “We sought a different outcome than the one the grand jury handed us today. But ultimately, we have to respect the decision.”

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The US justice system often sees prosecutors convene a grand jury to study the evidence of a case and decide whether or not to press charges and go to trial. 

The arrest of Prude, a black man who was suffocated to death, was captured on tape and was made public in September last year. 

The arrest, which took place in New York City, was made in the middle of the street with Prude standing naked. The officers who arrived at the scene swiftly put handcuffs on him and covered his face with a hood as he claimed to be infected with COVID-19. Prude eventually passed out with his face fully covered with the hood and died a week after the incident. 

The incident, which according to many was an act of racial profiling, triggered multiple protests challenging the acts of Rochester police officials and urged for an immediate resignation from La’Ron Singletary, the police department’s head. 

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The medical examiner ruled Prude’s death a homicide due to “complications of asphyxia in the setting of physical restraint.”

In a statement made after the verdict, James said, “The criminal justice system is badly in need of reform. The system too often allows officers to use deadly force unnecessarily and without consequence and that is a system that at its core is broken,” reported AFP.