February 23rd local time, the U.S. grand jury announced that the police involved would not face criminal proceedings in the case of Daniel Pruder, an African-American man who had attracted widespread attention last year, and died of suffocation after being law enforcement by the police.
On the night of the grand jury’s decision, the Associated Press said that hundreds of protesters gathered on the road to Prud’s arrest.
The New York Times reported that a concrete barrier had been installed around the public safety building in Rochester, New York, where the crime was committed.
Like “Floydish death”, public protests are rising.
On March 23, 2020, Prud’s brother called the police for help, saying that Prud, who was suffering from mental illness, ran out of the house at night.
Pruder was then suffocated and died after being enforced by the police.
In September, nearly half a year after the crime, the video of the police law enforcement recorder was exposed.
Video shows that several policemen surrounded Prud, who was naked and put on him an anti-vomit hood; Prud once lay on the ground in a hood, facing down, a policeman pressed his knee on his back, and the policeman pressed his head with his hand.
When the police found that Prud was no longer moving, they took him to the hospital. Pruder was diagnosed with brain death after being sent to the hospital, and was officially declared dead seven days later.
According to the New York Times, Pruder died of asphyxiation complications after his body was restrained, and extreme excitement and acute poisoning caused by a psychotropic drug he took were also causes of death.
After the video was exposed, seven policemen involved were suspended from duty.
Many people question why the police involved did not accept suspension until the video was exposed? Is there “systematic racism” within the police? In addition, an internal investigation into Pruder’s death in September showed that Rochester officials had been trying to suppress video clips at the time of the crime for months and distorted Pruder’s cause of death.
When the video of the police law enforcement recorder was exposed, the anti-racist and anti-police violence law enforcement demonstrations across the United States caused by the death of an African-American man George Freud had not yet subsided, and the death of Prud, which was almost the same as Freud’s death, set off another wave of popular protests.
On September 5, New York Attorney General Letty James said that a grand jury would be formed to try Prudder’s case.
From Freud to Prud, and he and even her…
From Freud to Prud, the violent enforcement of American police against people of African descent is far from over.
Along with strong public protests against racial inequality, many African-American men and even children have been subjected to police violence, with irreparable consequences.
June 12, 2020
Lysard Brooks, 27, an African-American man, was checked by the police for parking location affecting fast food restaurant customers to pick up meals.
Police fired Brooks without making offensive moves, causing Brooks to die.
August 23, 2020
Jacob Black, an African-American man, walked to his car when he was checked by the police and was shot seven times in the back by a policeman.
Black was paralyzed by being shot, and he said in his first voice that he “sore breathing”.
January 29, 2021
Rochester police officers handcuffed a 9-year-old African-American girl and sprayed pepper water while dealing with a family dispute.
Girl kept crying as she tried to break free from the police: “I want my father!” One policeman said, “I don’t care what you want, get in the car!”
Prudder was “abandoned” again. Who is the culprit?
After the grand jury decided not to prosecute the police involved, James said that her team had “provided the strongest evidence” in the case, but could not convince the grand jury that the police officers had committed crimes.
She said she must respect the decision of the grand jury, but at the same time believes that the improper behavior of law enforcement officials has killed people of African descent, and the criminal justice system hinders efforts to hold this responsibility accountable.
Prud’s family lawyer also said that the judicial system “repeated Prud”.
Long after the footage of Prudder’s case was revealed, Rochester’s African-American mayor, Lovely Warren, said that institutional and structural racism led to his death, “if he was white, he would not be abandoned by these systems.” Nowadays, the decision of the grand jury makes some netizens believe that this is a continuation of systemic racism.
Systemic racism has persisted for hundreds of years in the United States and is ubiquitous. From Prud to Freud, many ethnic minorities are also treated unequally.
The New York Times recently collected many American students’ views on race and racism.
Some shared their experiences of discrimination, and others said that Freud’s death and subsequent protests made them deeply aware of the existence of racism.
Naomi, an African-American girl in Georgia, said she has heard a lot of comments over the years about her skin color and her characteristics as a person of color.” Other girls have said to me that my hair looks ‘normal’ when straightened, or when touching my curly hair, it’s “very different”.
They seem to treat me as an alien, not a person.”
Claire of North Carolina believes that the police system protects racists, and it has always been so, because the police system was born to capture escaped slaves.
Stephanie of Illinois said racism and apartheid are a matter of fact and have penetrated into education, health care, policing and other areas.
