Rochester Police Chief and Command Staff Resign After Video Shows Police Killing Daniel Prude

(The AEGIS Alliance) – ROCHESTER, NEW YORK – Police Chief La’Ron Singletary for the Rochester Police Department announced his resignation and retirement on Tuesday, just days after police bodycam video was released that shows the police killing of Daniel Prude. Prude was a Black man who was killed in March after officers detained him and used violence. Other police department members also announced that they’re resigning and retiring.

Singletary made a statement and said “As a man of integrity, I will not sit idly by while outside entities attempt to destroy my character. The events over the past week are an attempt to destroy my character and integrity.”

#BREAKING Rochester Police Chief La’Ron Singletary says he’s retiring. Letter below- @13WHAM pic.twitter.com/J288gbjh7U

— Tanner (@T_Jubenville) September 8, 2020

Protests erupted in Rochester after the video was released of Prude’s incident with police in March.

In the bodycam footage, a group of officers went up to age 41 Prude, who was complying with the officers’ requests for him to lay down face-down on the ground and place his hands behind his back. Officers then put a “spit hood” over Prude’s head, then shoved his head onto the ground. One officer put his knee on Prude’s back while a different officer held down his head with both hands.

Prude passed away seven days afterward when he was removed from life support.

The resignation of Singletary was demanded by protesters in Rochester after a medical examiner made a ruling that the death of Prude was a homicide. There are also calls for Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren to resign. Warren made an announcement on Sunday about changes in policing policies but ultimately decided not to step down from her position. She told city council members on Tuesday that “the entire command staff” is resigning and retiring, including Deputy Chief Joseph Morabito.

Warren said that “The entire Rochester Police Department command staff has announced their retirement. Though it wasn’t immediately clear how many members are on the command staff, Warren added that “there may be a number of others that will decide to leave as well and retire.”

Kyle James Lee – The AEGIS Alliance – This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.