City of Rochester to Pay $12 Million For Death of Daniel Prude

City of Rochester to Pay $12 Million For Death of Daniel Prude

Record-setting settlement reached in federal civil rights lawsuit brought by Estate of Daniel Prude

Rochester, New York (October 6, 2022) – The City of Rochester has agreed to pay $12 million to settle federal civil rights claims brought by the Estate of Daniel Prude in connection with Mr. Prude’s fatal March 23, 2020 with Rochester Police Officers. It is believed to be the largest civil rights settlement in Rochester history.

In the early morning hours of March 23, 2020, Daniel Prude was suffering from an acute mental health crisis, for which he had been briefly hospitalized the day before. He was visiting his brother in Rochester. His brother called 911 out of concern for Mr. Prude’s safety after Mr. Prude abruptly ran out of his brother’s house without shoes and without a coat in freezing cold temperatures. Rochester Police Officers were then dispatched to find Daniel and get him safely back to the hospital, employing what is called a “mental hygiene detention.” When the officers who responded to the 911 call located Mr. Prude about half an hour later, he was running naked. He was quite clearly unarmed. Daniel immediately complied when officers ordered him to lay down onto the freezing cold pavement to be cuffed behind his back. But once they had Daniel in custody – literally in a matter of seconds, what happened next was unconscionable. They forced him to lay on the frozen street. The officers made no effort to calm Daniel, or to reassure him Instead of rescuing him, RPD officers used deadly and force and killed him.

Daniel was cuffed behind his back, face down but head twisted to the side, with s spit bag over his head and three brutal cops on his head and neck, back, and legs, pressing and twisting the life out of Daniel, suffocating him as he begged for his life and struggled to breathe, until he died.

Then, rather than perform a proper investigation of this fatal police encounter with Daniel, the City of Rochester condoned the misconduct by engaging in efforts to conceal the incident of police misconduct by falsifying police reports, lying to the public, and refusing to release the body worn camera video (which they did provide to the Locust Club, the union of Rochester police officers). Both the City of Rochester’s Mayor and the Chief of Police who was implicated in the cover up have since been replaced.

“This settlement is a very large monetary recovery for a very serious fatal civil rights violation. 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. This is true especially, but not only, in communities of color that are so frequently harmed by systems that purport to serve and protect them,” said one of Plaintiff’s counsel, Matthew Piers.

Plaintiff’s counsel Mark Dym noted: “The New York Legislature is considering legislation in response to what was done to Daniel, a bill called “Daniel’s Law” which would provide for trained mental health professionals, rather than police officers, to respond to situations calling for mental health interventions. Passing Daniel’s Law is an essential reform of a broken system.”

Plaintiff’s attorney Adam Ingber said: "Body worn camera videos can be effective, but only if there is independent review. This is another case where video uncovered misconduct that otherwise might have gone unknown and unredressed, which is exactly what happened in this case, while the City withheld the video hoping to cover it up.”

It is the profound hope of Nathaniel McFarland, Daniel’s son and the administrator of his estate, and the team of lawyers who represented him, that the fact and size of this settlement will serve as a reminder to cities and local governments all over the nation that the duty to serve and protect must be carried out with the utmost respect and care, especially towards those experiencing mental health crises.

Nathaniel McFarland, Mr. Prude’s eldest son, who like three of his four siblings was raised and now resides in Chicago said: “Nothing can ever truly compensate me and my siblings for the killing of our father by the Rochester police. Resolving this case is a step in the right direction. My family needs to heal, and communities need to know that there will be at least some accountability when police kill people like my dad, whose only crime was needing help.”

The Estate of Daniel Prude is represented by the attorneys listed below:

Matthew J. Piers

Mark S. Dym

Elizabeth Mazur

Margaret Truesdale

HUGHES SOCOL PIERS RESNICK & DYM, Ltd.

70 W. Madison Street, Suite 4000

Chicago, IL 60602 (312) 604-2606

Stephen G. Schwarz

Lesley E. Niebel

FARACI LAGNE

1882 South Winton Road, Suite 1 Rochester, NY 14618

and

Adam D. Ingber

ADAM DAVID INGBER, P.C.

161 N. Clark, Suite 1600, Chicago, IL 60601

2598 East Sunrise Blvd Suite 2104

Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33304