Rochester to pay $12 Million Settlement to Daniel Prude’s Family

According to a report by Minyvonne Burke of NBC News, the City of Rochester will pay $12 million in a settlement to Daniel Prude's family after he died in 2020 while police were restraining him.

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According to the report, Prude died while police were restraining him with handcuffs and a "spit hood" over his head. Footage of the incident showed Prude, naked and having a mental health episode, asking the officers for a gun. One officer used his knee on Prude's back to restrain him and while laughing and joking with paramedics, Prude became limp and nonresponsive and the officers and paramedics initiated CPR.

The cause of death for Prude was listed as "complications of asphyxia in the setting of physical restraint" and he had PCP in his system. The City of Rochester did not admit any wrongdoing, but the officer who had his knee on Prude's back was served with departmental charges for unnecessary or excessive force and discourteous/unprofessional conduct. Mayor Malik Evans cited the cost of continued litigation as the reason for the settlement.

"This settlement is a very large monetary recovery for a very serious fatal civil rights violation," said Matthew Piers, attorney for the Estate of Daniel Prude. "A damages recovery is all the Estate of Daniel Prude is entitled to as a matter of law. No purely monetary settlement can truly address the fundamental problem of police violence that underlies this tragic case. Policing in this country must be reformed to be more humane."

The incident occurred in March of 2020, just before large-scale Black Lives Matter protests began around the United States.