By Police1 Staff
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A $12M settlement has been reached between the City of Rochester and the family of Daniel Prude, who died after being restrained by police after they were called to respond to him running naked through the streets of Rochester, New York, in March 2020.
A federal judge approved the settlement in a court document filed Thursday. Rochester Mayor Malik D. Evans said in a statement that the agreement was “the best decision” for the city, according to the Associated Press.
Daniel Prude, 41, was visiting his brother in Rochester when police found him running naked in the streets during a snowstorm. According to Syracuse.com, Prude’s brother had called police because Prude was having a “mental episode.”
Bodycam video shows Rochester police officers ordering the naked man to the ground and putting him in handcuffs. Officers then put a spit hood over Prude’s head and one of them presses his face into the pavement for two minutes. Prude was taken to a hospital where he remained until he was taken off life support seven days later, according to Syracuse.com.
Prude had been taken to a hospital for a psychiatric evaluation earlier that night but was released after a few hours, and later bolted from his brother’s home, according to the Associated Press.
The county medical examiner ruled his death a homicide caused by “complications of asphyxia in the setting of physical restraint” and cited the drug PCP as a contributing factor.