As a Metropolis and a neighborhood, we should work in the direction of altering insurance policies and procedures to right the inequities within the system. I’m dedicated to focusing my vitality and anger on creating the change our neighborhood so desperately seeks, and I ask that you just be part of with me. Our current draft proposals reimaging policing in response to Government Order 203, and Chief Herriott-Sullivan’s revised orders and procedures, which she’s going to announce quickly, are proof of this effort.
I ask us all to place the well-being of our neighborhood first and to behave with sincerity to enhance our Metropolis. If we do this with the dignity and humanity God has instilled in all of us, we’ll create the change that Mr. Prude’s dying, and that our historical past, calls for.
I pray that all of us select this path. I pray for the Prude household, and for his soul, on this tough day. Allow us to stay the phrases we now have all spoken to create a most simply and equitable Rochester for everybody. God bless you and our Metropolis.”
Rochester Police Chief Cynthia Herriott-Sullivan: “That is nonetheless an ongoing investigation. The Rochester Police Division’s (RPD) Skilled Requirements Part (PSS) will proceed with the interior investigation. The officers will stay on depart pending the end result of this inside investigation.
My coronary heart goes out to the Prude household throughout this tough time. I would like the household and our neighborhood to know that I accepted the function of Interim Police Chief to make actual, systemic change, and that’s nonetheless my aim. I’m pleased with the progress we’re making and of RPD Officers for being open to studying various strategies and dealing collectively in the direction of a typical aim of holding this from taking place once more. Our job is to serve and shield, and we’re dedicated to steady enchancment and partnering with neighborhood leaders and specialists to make progress on reframing the Division to a guardian mindset, coaching and coverage updates for de-escalation, responsibility to intervene, and psychological hygiene detention practices.”
Monroe County District Lawyer Sandra Doorley: “I wish to thank the Lawyer Basic for bringing this tough case to a Grand Jury. I consider wholeheartedly that the Lawyer Basic’s Workplace adopted the legislation on this matter. The end result of the Grand Jury continuing doesn’t change the truth that our neighborhood is hurting and offended from not solely Daniel Prude’s dying final March, however generations of inequities. My continued prayers are with the household of Daniel Prude. It’s my hope as District Lawyer and a member of this neighborhood that we’re in a position to transfer ahead collectively in unity.”
Sen. Majority Chief Chuck Schumer: “Daniel Prude ought to nonetheless be alive at the moment. It’s long gone time for policing reform. As a begin, Daniel’s Regulation ought to move in New York, and we’re working to move the Justice In Policing Act in Congress.”
Congressman Joe Morelle: “Whereas this marks the top of the grand jury course of, it’s abundantly clear that our insurance policies and procedures should not working—in the event that they have been, Daniel Prude would nonetheless be alive at the moment.
Now, it’s as much as all of us to show our anguish into motion. We should begin by passing the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, by enhancing psychological well being providers, and by reevaluating and reimagining police coaching protocols. The challenges we face should not unsolvable, and we owe it to Daniel Prude—and the numerous victims like him in communities throughout our nation—to take decisive motion to resolve them.
Finally, we should do no matter it takes to create a extra simply system and stop a tragedy like this from taking place to a different household ever once more.”
Sen. Jeremy Cooney (D-56): “I’m saddened for Daniel Prude’s household and deeply troubled by the choice of the grand jury to not indict. Time after time, our legal justice system fails to guard Black and Brown residents. I’ll proceed to work to deliver transformational change by way of the legislative course of to our policing system to make sure honest and equal remedy.
Daniel Prude’s dying, the current macing of a 9-year-old woman, and lots of different examples name on us to lastly finish certified immunity for law enforcement officials. Victims and their family members have to be heard and be given their day in courtroom. I’m co-sponsoring the ‘Restoring Accountability and Civil Fairness Act’ (S.1050) and I urge my Senate colleagues to affix me to verify we take motion.”
Sen. Samra Brouk (D-55): “Daniel Prude’s household and the Rochester neighborhood are harm, anguished, and offended, and at the moment’s grand jury announcement does little to heal or absolve the deep wounds that we’re experiencing as a neighborhood. I’m outraged and heartbroken by the grand jury’s choice to say no to deliver expenses towards the officers concerned in Daniel Prude’s dying.
Daniel died alone and bare on a Rochester avenue in the course of a freezing winter evening, and nobody is being held accountable for that. This isn’t justice. We’d like elevated transparency and oversight on investigations involving legislation enforcement, and we want therapeutic, care, and compassion for individuals experiencing a psychological well being and substance abuse disaster.”
Assemblymember Jen Lunsford (D-135): “Daniel Prude’s dying was a horrific tragedy that shook our neighborhood to its core and led to lengthy overdue conversations about policing, race and psychological well being throughout our nation. Right now’s grand jury choice doesn’t finish the combat for reform, justice and Black Lives. It additionally doesn’t change the truth that Daniel Prude must be alive at the moment. I applaud the Lawyer Basic’s calls to motion at the moment. We can’t meet this second with platitudes and prayers. We should act to make sure that Daniel’s legacy will stay on by way of the true adjustments to make sure that tragedies like this by no means occur once more.”
Monroe County Legislature Minority Chief Vince Felder: “I’m deeply disenchanted that the grand jury selected to not indict any of those seven officers. What occurred to Mr. Prude was unconscionable. That somebody who was in apparent psychological misery
may find yourself lifeless just because the police who encountered him didn’t take acceptable motion is past comprehension.
This incident and the failure of the grand jury to indict illuminates the necessity for larger police reform. Police who trigger the dying of harmless civilians ought to should face the identical legal legal responsibility that abnormal civilians face each day. These incidents solely appear to occur to black and Brown individuals, so the racial implications can’t be ignored. The truth that police proceed to get away with this sort of habits lets me know that there are, actually, two completely different methods of justice in America.
Daniel Prude must be alive at the moment, and he can be if not for the actions of those law enforcement officials. Even in dying, there isn’t a justice to be discovered for him or his household. My coronary heart goes out to his youngsters.
In America, we prefer to say that nobody is above the legislation. I encourage to vary.”
Assemblymember Demond Meeks (D-137): “Once more, a Black man lifeless after an interplay with the police. Once more, a system that finds the law enforcement officials not chargeable for the actions that led to his dying. I’m disgusted by this predictable end result.
Verdicts like these endorse police brutality, and unchecked racial and implicit bias housed inside police departments. This tragic occasion, this dispiriting verdict, ought to divulge to us that the police should not certified to reply to individuals experiencing a psychological well being disaster.
Whereas my coronary heart is heavy, my work towards fairness and justice for my neighborhood won’t cease. I’ll combat for the passage of Daniel’s Regulation. I’ll combat for the funding in preventive applications and initiatives that trigger the harm inside our metropolis.
I stand with the Prude household, and I’ll proceed to combat for the justice and transparency all of us deserve.”
Metropolis Council President Loretta C. Scott and Vice President Willie J. Lightfoot: “Right now, New York Lawyer Basic Letitia James introduced that the grand jury empaneled final fall within the investigation of Daniel Prude’s dying has returned with no indictments towards the members of the Rochester Police Division concerned on this incident. Whereas this choice is extraordinarily disappointing, it isn’t in any respect stunning. We notice that for a lot of in our neighborhood, this choice feels insufficient and unjust.”
“Whereas we can’t change the choice of the grand jury, we will proceed to hunt justice for Daniel Prude. Tonight we name on Police Chief Cynthia Herriott-Sullivan to pursue disciplinary actions towards the officers concerned in his dying, together with the doable termination of those officers.”
“We should proceed the efforts in our neighborhood to reform our public security system, and make sure that we create a system that values human life and acknowledges and responds appropriately to conditions involving people in want of psychological well being providers.”
“Our prayers stay with the Prude household, at the moment and at all times.”
New York Civil Liberties Union’s Government Director Donna Lieberman: “The Rochester Police Division took Daniel Prude’s life whereas he was in disaster. He deserved providers and helps, not for his life to finish. The Metropolis of Rochester subsequently withheld physique digital camera footage and the RPD subjected residents peacefully protesting Prude’s homicide and calling for systemic change to abuse.
Regardless of these truths, the Lawyer Basic’s grand jury opted for impunity, not accountability. This isn’t justice. We won’t cease combating for justice in Daniel Prude’s reminiscence to guard others from being killed by police as a result of they expertise a psychological well being disaster.
Psychological well being crises require psychological well being experience, not violence by the hands of the police. It’s time for an entire transformation of neighborhood security, starting with eradicating the RPD from psychological well being disaster response and placing educated psychological well being professionals in cost.”
Police Accountability Board Chair Shani Wilson: “The PAB extends its condolences to the household of Daniel Prude and all these battling at the moment’s information. All through our metropolis’s historical past, legal prosecutions have did not ship justice for Black and brown individuals harmed by police. This truth is why our neighborhood overwhelmingly voted to create a brand new system to carry the police accountable: the PAB. Each failure to ship justice for officer wrongdoing proves that the PAB must have its disciplinary powers returned, its investigations unimpeded, and its work totally funded.”
Monroe County Government Adam Bello: “My prayers are with Daniel Prude’s household and mates tonight. His tragic dying has induced an infinite quantity of ache all through our neighborhood, ache that also resonates to this very day. It has left us all trying to find solutions on the best way to do higher and maintain ourselves accountable to addressing a system that’s clearly unjust, one which was devoid of compassion for somebody who was crying out for assist. Mr. Prude’s dying laid naked for us the systemic failures which have adversely impacted Black and Brown communities for too lengthy.
Simply as Mr. Prude’s dying uncovered a failure of the system to reply to the disaster he was going through, at the moment’s choice has uncovered a whole system in pressing want of change. We should all work collectively – by way of our actions, not simply empty phrases – to reform our methods and providers so these tragedies should not repeated.”
Pamela Karlan, Principal Deputy Assistant Lawyer Basic for the Civil Rights Division of the Division of Justice: “The U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace for the Western District of New York, the Civil Rights Division on the Division of Justice, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are conscious {that a} grand jury empaneled by the New York State Lawyer Basic’s Workplace has concluded its investigation of the assorted officers of the Rochester Police Division who encountered Daniel Prude on March 23, 2020, and decided that no expenses can be filed. We intend to overview the excellent report issued by the New York State Lawyer Basic, in addition to another related supplies, and can decide whether or not any additional federal response is warranted.”
Rochester Police Locust Membership: “Pending the conclusion of the interior investigation, the Rochester Police Locust Membership won’t be making any feedback relating to the announcement by NY Lawyer Basic James on the Grand Jury choice.”
Rev. Lewis W. Stewart: “Mr. Prude unnecessarily died whereas within the custody of RPD, as a result of the legislation enforcement officers current aided and abetted his dying. They refused to acknowledge his humanity. In my thoughts, these officers are culpable within the dying of Daniel Prude.
I’m calling on the Mayor and the Chief of Police to fireplace these officers. If this was the identical case involving non-police officers, the perpetrators concerned can be on trial for manslaughter. It seems that there’s one legislation for cops and one other legislation for residents who’re topic to the complete penalty of the legislation.
This is the reason there’s this rising chasm of distrust and suspicion between the neighborhood and the police. The Metropolis should urgently put into place psychological well being, protocols and parts to make sure that what occurred to Daniel Prude won’t ever occur to anybody else once more. As well as, the Grand Jury System must be reformed. I urge those that will exhibit to specific your outrage however to take action non-violently. The problem is systemic racism and we should purge this most cancers from the Rochester Police Division in addition to any cops who’re white supremacists.”
