Attorneys of 7 suspended Rochester police officers to give update on Daniel Prude case Thursday

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Editor’s note: The press conference scheduled for 10 a.m. EDT at the Police Locust Club will be live streamed from this page.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — Attorneys for seven suspended police officers and the Rochester Police Locust Club are holding a press conference on Thursday morning to give an update on the Daniel Prude Case.

“The attorneys will be discussing and releasing materials relevant to the officers’ training and procedures,” a statement announcing the conference reads.

MORE | WATCH: Footage of encounter between Daniel Prude and Rochester police officers before his death

The seven officers involved in the in-custody death of Daniel Prude were suspended just days after the news broke of Prude’s death.

All seven, Officers Mark Vaughn, Troy Taladay, Paul Ricotta, Francisco Santiago, Andrew Specksgoor, Josiah Harris, and Sgt. Michael Magri, were suspended with pay.

Protests have been ongoing in and around Rochester since September 2, when details of Prude’s death first became public.

Free the People ROC, one of the local groups organizing protests and events, has released a list of demands that it will continue to fight for:

“Lovely Warren’s decision to appoint a new interim Police Chief and Command Staff doesn’t address the deep structural issues in policing. Nothing short of a complete transformation will address the problems we see every day.  Our demands are clear and Lovely Warren has done exactly nothing to meet the demands of the people.  This is what we continue to fight for:

  1. Fire and prosecute Mark Vaughn, Troy Talladay, Francisco Santiago, Andrew Specksgoor, Josiah Harris, Paul Ricotta, and Sgt. Michael Magri and revoke their pensions.
  2. Drop the criminal charges against all protestors arrested since May 30th.
  3. Daniel’s Law – Pass legislation prohibiting police from responding to mental health calls. The state must ensure an emergency response system that puts trained mental health providers in the lead to respond and direct care in a mental health crisis not police.
  4. We demand the immediate resignation of Lovely Warren, Deputy Mayor James Smith, Mike Mazzeo, and Sandra Doorley.
  5. Defund and demilitarize RPD

“We are asking for defunding, and instead we keep getting new Black figureheads you put blame on to hold accountable when the system continues to not work as its supposed to,” said Free the People ROC organizer Stanley Martin. “I want us to think critically, and not just because we have a Black woman that doesn’t mean that’s progress — it means she’s holding a white supremacist space and her title will only allow her to continue a system of white supremacy. So yes we can see that she’s a Black woman, but we can also be critical of anyone who fills the seats of police chief because police chiefs are historically slave catchers and abusers of our rights so anyone who comes in this position we will continue to be critical of.”

Prude, a 41-year-old Black man from Chicago, died after an encounter with Rochester police back in March, but news of the incident just came to light on September 2.

The autopsy report from the Monroe County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the death of Prude a homicide. The report says Prude’s cause of death includes “complications of asphyxia in the setting of physical restraint.” The report also showed that Prude also had a small amount of PCP in his system at the time of his death, which could explain his erratic behavior.

Less than one-week Prude’s death became public, Police Chief Singletary announced his retirement — along with several other members of RPD’s command staff.

The following week, Mayor Lovely Warren fired Singletary before his effective retirement date and named Mark Simmons the interim Chief of Police. Simmons has since been replaced by Cynthia Herriott-Sullivan.

Check back with News 8 WROC as we will continue to update this developing story.

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