Estate Sues Rochester, Police Over Daniel Prude’s Death

By Katherine Webster | September 9, 2020

Category: Legal News

A police cruiser with blue lights on at night - Rochester Police Department

The estate of a man who died in March at the hands of the Rochester Police Department has filed a lawsuit against the department and the city.

The police brutality lawsuit was filed in New York federal court. It alleges violations of the Fourth Amendment and victim Daniel Prude’s constitutional rights, as well as supervisory liability, deliberate indifference to serious medical needs and failure to discipline the officers involved, among other accusations.

Prude died in the early morning hours of March 23 after Rochester Police Department officers Mark Vaughn, Troy Taladay and Francisco Santiago allegedly used deadly force during a “mental health” arrest.

According to the lawsuit, officer’s body-worn camera footage shows that at the point force was used, Prude was “handcuffed, naked, and sitting on the ground with a ‘spit sock’ over his head — he obviously posed no threat to the safety of the officers or anyone else.”

Prude’s estate maintains he was experiencing an acute manic episode at the time of the arrest.

“Mr. Prude was unarmed, naked and suffering. He needed help,” the police brutality lawsuit says. “Instead, the body worn camera recordings show that MARK VAUGHN pushed down on Mr. Prude’s head with his full body weight — essentially doing a triangle pushup on his head — for over two minutes until he stopped breathing.”

The video reportedly shows Prude was not fighting with officers or resisting arrest.

As Vaughn allegedly pushed Prude’s head down, Taladay supposedly knelt on Prude’s back while Santiago held his legs. Several other officers allegedly stood nearby during the incident, chatting and joking with Vaughn and Taladay.

According to the lawsuit, Prude stopped breathing at 3:22 a.m.

“This went unnoticed by the officers because they were not paying attention, but instead were chatting and making jokes at Mr. Prude’s expense,” the lawsuit states. It allegedly took over a minute and half for Vaughn to notice Prude had stopped breathing, and another 15 seconds to ask the EMT for help.

A geared-up police officer stands with his back to the camera - Rochester Police Department

Paramedics performed CPR on Prude for about 17 minutes, according to the lawsuit. They also intubated him and administered epinephrine and sodium bicarbonate.

Thanks to these measures, Prude’s heart began beating on its own again; however, he was left in a vegetative state due to lack of oxygen to his brain for 20 minutes, the lawsuit states.

On March 30, after learning nothing more could be done for Prude, his brother decided to take Prude off life support.

Prude’s estate says the medical examiner ruled Prude’s death a homicide. His cause of death was listed as “complications of asphyxia in the setting of physical restraint.”

Despite the medical examiner’s ruling, the Rochester Police Department’s Major Crimes Unit, which is responsible for investigating homicides, concluded the officers acted “appropriately and in accordance with their training,” the lawsuit says.

However, the lawsuit maintains this finding goes against the Rochester Police Department’s own written policies on use of force.

In addition, Prude’s estate believes the police chief lied to Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren.

Police Chief La’Ron Singletary allegedly told Warren on March 23 that Prude had had an apparent drug overdose; Singletary failed to tell her about the officers’ use of force.

According to the lawsuit, Warren says Singletary never informed her Prude had died as a result of the officers’ use of force, even though “Corporation Counsel” and the Rochester Police Department were informed April 3 that Prude’s family intended to file a wrongful death and civil rights lawsuit, and that all related records and body-worn camera recordings were required to be preserved.

“That same day, April 3, 2020, your undersigned submitted a request pursuant to the state Freedom of Information Law for all body worn camera recordings and other records related to the incident, which the City simply ignored.”

According to 13 WHAM, the lawsuit was filed the same day as several Rochester Police Department officials — including Singletary — announced their retirement.

“The members of the Rochester Police Department and the Greater Rochester Community know my reputation and know what I stand for,” Singletary said in a prepared statement, according to the Los Angeles Times. “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.”

Prude’s estate demands a jury trial and seeks compensatory and punitive damages; declaratory and injunctive relief, including the appointment of a federal monitor to oversee reforms of Rochester’s process for investigating police use-of-force incidents and the implementation of disciplinary procedures for officers using force without justification; attorneys’ fees and costs; and any other relief the Court deems appropriate.

Do you think police officers acted appropriately during the incident with Daniel Prude? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

The plaintiff is represented by Elliot D. Shields of Roth & Roth LLP and Donald M. Thompson of Easton Thompson Kasperek Shiffrin LLP.

The Daniel Prude Police Brutality Death Lawsuit is Tameshay Prude v. City of Rochester, et al., Case No. 6:20-cv-06675, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York.