oneshortdamnfuse:

[Post Dated: September 6, 2020]

The situation:

On March 23, 2020, Daniel Prude was physically restrained by Rochester police after his brother had called for assistance. Prude was a black man having a mental health crisis.

A “spit-hood” was put over his head to prevent him from spitting on police who had restrained him. Police then held him face-down to the ground for over two minutes where he eventually stopped breathing.

Daniel Prude was given CPR at the scene and later died after being taken off life support in the hospital. His autopsy report ruled his death a homicide. The only evidence of the murder was in the form of police body-cam footage.

The autopsy report and police body-cam footage were not released until September 2, 2020. The delay in investigation and failure to immediately suspend the police officers have contributed to ongoing protests.

The names of the police officers involved in the incident are Troy Talladay, Mark Vaughn, and Francisco Santiago. The chief of police is La’Ron D. Singletary. The mayor is Lovely Warren. The police union president is Mike Mazzeo.

[source]

Rochester Needs Help

Protesters in Rochester, NY need your help. They are experiencing a gross violation of their rights to protest, including extreme police brutality from the Rochester Police Department. Journalists have also been targeted.

I am not located in Rochester, but I am a friend of friends in Rochester who are on the scene right now. Here are a few resources they have shared to help the people protesting in Rochester.

Free The People Roc is on the ground, actively protesting in Rochester. You can follow their actions and resource links on their Facebook page linked in the title. Please use them as a primary source of information. (Venmo: blmroc)

Donate to the following organizations/fundraisers, if possible:

If you can’t donate, please share the following information:

National Lawyers Guild Rochester - providing legal support for protesters.

ROCitizen - volunteer organizations covering ongoing protests

Geva Theatre Center - lobby open to protesters; (they are also collecting donated supplies)

Call, text, or email the following people to put pressure on RPD:

Currently, New York Attorney General Letitia James is empaneling a grand jury as part of the investigation into Daniel Prude’s death. You can contact her here.

Again, I am not in Rochester. However, a lot of resources have been shared with me that I have not seen here. I am using what platform I have here to spread information.

Please note: This post is not for further discussion regarding the case itself. It is meant for resources. I will update this post with additional resources if they are made available to me.

Please share if you feel that you are in a position to do so. Tumblr’s tagging system is atrocious, so this post will likely not appear in the tags due to the links provided.