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NY Attorney General Commits To Swifter Release Of Body Camera Footage In Investigations Of Police-Involved Deaths
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Sydney Pereira
Published Sep 20, 2020
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By
Sydney Pereira
Published Sep 20, 2020
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The New York State Attorney General is changing her office's policy on releasing body-worn camera footage involving police killings of unarmed civilians as protesters in Rochester continue to demonstrate against Daniel Prude's death.
"I commit that we will notify the public when we arrive at a decision whether to assert jurisdiction in investigations involving police-officer involved deaths of unarmed civilians to avoid the situation that occurred here in Rochester," State Attorney General Letitia James said during a press conference on Sunday. "This new policy will help to prevent instances where the public has been kept in the dark for far too long, such as what happened in the Prude case."
James faulted a previous policy in which her office left it to local authorities to determine when videos of civilian deaths by police would be made public.
She said that protocol has "caused confusion, delays, and has hampered transparency."
Now, videos will be released once the attorney general's office asserts jurisdiction and the family of the deceased watches the video.
In the case of Prude, the 41-year-old was placed into a "spit hood" and pressed onto the pavement while handcuffed and naked on a snowy March night in Rochester. He died a week later, and the Monroe County medical examiner ruled his death a homicide.
Months later, the video of Prude's death was made public—spurring mass protests met with aggressive police tactics like tear gas and pepper balls. Earlier this month, James announced she would set up a grand jury to investigate whether any police officers involved would be charged. Protesters have demonstrated overnight at Rochester's City Hall in recent days.
Emails show that police officials attempted to keep the video from public view as protesters marched against police violence across the country in the wake of police killings of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in Louisville. The deputy police chief Mark Simmons wrote to Chief La'Ron Singletary: "We certainly do not want people to misinterpret the officers' actions and conflate this incident with any recent killings of unarmed Black men by law enforcement nationally," to which chief Singletary replied: "I totally agree." Singletary was fired last week, with Simmons as his interim replacement for the next month.
A city lawyer in those same set of emails said State Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Sommers recommended letting the family watch the video, but not releasing it to the public.
The AG's office has denied any instruction to withhold the video, and on Sunday, James said local authorities appear to have used the attorney general's policies as "an excuse to suppress the video."
"Ms. Sommers had indicated to the police department as well as to the administration, the local administration, that in fact our policy has been not to release the video. Whether or not they used that as an excuse to suppress the video, is anyone's guess. But I'm confident that Ms. Sommers did not intimate, suggest, or otherwise indicate to the authorities that they should suppress the video," James said. "All of the emails that I've seen thus far as a result of the media would suggest that they used our policies and practices as an excuse to suppress the video, and that's unfortunate."
James also said officials who hold back documents following Freedom of Information Law requests should face "consequences" in response to a question about whether more than 300 pages of documents released by Rochester officials last week shows a possible cover-up.
The city of Rochester did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Tagged
police brutality
tish james
new york attorney general
new york
letitia james
body cameras
daniel prude
police violence
Sydney Pereira
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