What People Are Ignoring About Why Police Put Hood on Black Man Who Later Died

Protests have erupted in upstate New York after video of a black man who died after an encounter with police in March was released Wednesday.

According to many news reports and people spreading word of the death on social media, Daniel Prude, 41, died a week after police “put a hood over his head and pressed his face into the pavement” for two minutes.

Protests broke out in Rochester, N.Y., after the release of police bodycam footage of Daniel Prude's arrest.

Police put a "spit hood" over his head and held him down. He eventually fell unconscious and stopped breathing, and died a week later.https://t.co/QcR10HJhYr
— NPR (@NPR) September 3, 2020

Daniel Prude died March 30 after police in Rochester, New York, put a hood over his head and pressed his face into the pavement.

His death received no public attention until Wednesday, when Prude's family came forward with police body camera video. https://t.co/SKjaFq8uzx
— The Marshall Project (@MarshallProj) September 3, 2020

The body cams show it: Daniel Prude was immediately compliant with officers. He was clearly having a mental health incident, but posed no threat.

Rochester PD put a hood over his head, smashed his face into the pavement & suffocated him. #BlackLivesMatter https://t.co/abXmmQvJER
— Nick Knudsen ???? (@DemWrite) September 3, 2020

A Black man died of suffocation in Rochester, N.Y., after police officers who were taking him into custody put a hood over his head and then pressed his face into the pavement for two minutes, according to video and records released Wednesdayhttps://t.co/nItiXY4Mrs
— NYT Metro (@NYTMetro) September 3, 2020

Prude's brother called police about his behavior because he was having a mental health crisis. Prude, high on PCP, left his brother’s house in freezing temperatures with only a few items of clothing on, but then proceeded to strip naked as he walked the streets. According to police, he smashed widows along the way. A passing tow truck driver called 911 to report his behavior and told police he was covered in blood.

When officers approached him with a taser, they told him to get on the ground with his hands behind his back. He did comply and one of the officers put handcuffs on him. Now, here is the part many are leaving out about the encounter: “Prude spat, yelled and told the cops that he had COVID-19,” according to the Daily Mail, which is why they put the spit hood on him. This was back in March when coronavirus hit New York hard.

The hood enraged Prude, who yelled at the officers to give him their gun. They pushed him to the ground and pinned him there for over two minutes until they noticed water coming from his mouth.

“My man. You puking?” one officer says.

Another notes that he feels cold and has been outside in freezing temperatures naked for awhile.

The EMT who arrived told police PCP intoxication causes “excited delirium” and that’s likely why he coded. “It’s not your fault, guys,” the EMT said.

He died a week later after he was pulled off life support.

Prude ran around streets naked on PCP, tried to break into a car, spit on people while screaming he had COVID—the virus we just shut down the world over—and tried to get a cop's gun. He was arrested and died a week later. Now, predictably, more riots. https://t.co/sVZ1RoemI7
— Fiery But Mostly Peaceful Michael Knowles (@michaeljknowles) September 3, 2020

A dude was naked running through the street high on PCP and had to have a hood put on his head because he was spitting on officers after saying he had COVID and we’re going with “police brutality” as the underlying cause of his demise. Oh ok. Makes sense.
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) September 4, 2020