The demonstrations in Rochester, New York, continued this Sunday for the fourth day in a row due to the death of Daniel Prude, a black man with mental health problems who was suffocated by police while handcuffed and placed on the ground with a hood over his head. head.
At least nine people were arrested this Sunday
during the demonstrations in which there were some violent clashes with the police, which left at least
three officers injured
by "projectiles and incendiary bombs."
Authorities have not reported whether protesters were injured, despite reports that some had been hit by projectiles.
The New York Civil Liberties Union criticized police use of "military tactics" such as sound cannons, explosions, tear gas and pepper spray against protesters.
Protests in Rochester, on September 4, following the death of Daniel Prude at the hands of the police.
"Over the past few nights, we have seen justified anger and heartfelt protests from many residents of our community," Mayor Lovely Warren said during a news conference Sunday.
Amid activists' demands that the mayor and police chief La'Ron Singletary resign, Warren on Sunday proposed a
police reform to better address mental health problems.
"We will get our family crisis intervention team out of the Police Department," he said.
He assured that they are
doubling
the availability of mental health professionals "to serve better and more humanely" the residents of the city.
Protests in New York after the death of Daniel Prude at the hands of the police
Sept.
4, 202000: 27
He specified that he engaged with the
race commission
to improve the response "to mental health crises" and "rethink" the police department.
"I understand that there are certain calls that law enforcement should not handle alone," Singletary added, referring to mental health crises.
The police chief also said that he had information that there were "agitators" in the demonstrations,
who had traveled from other states to attack the police, claiming that some of the people arrested had their addresses in other parts of the country, such as in Alaska or Massachusetts.
The mayor has not considered resigning.
She said now is the time for leadership and rectified her support for Singletary as "the ideal man to lead the community through these difficult times."
Protester in Rochester, Friday, September 4.
Relatives of Prude, 41, revealed police videos of the March 23 incident on Wednesday and Thursday and said the officers used excessive force to immobilize him.
Daniel Prude died of "asphyxia complications in the context of physical restraint
,
"
with the drug PCP listed as a contributing factor, according to the autopsy report by Monroe County Medical Examiner Nadia Granger.
Warren announced Thursday that seven officers had been suspended for the incident and New York Attorney General Letitia James said Saturday that she had authorized a state grand jury to investigate Prude's death.
A car collides with protesters in Rochester on September 4.
The mayor said she was unaware of Prude's autopsy in April and that it wasn't until Aug. 4 that she was released with the video.
Joe Prude, Daniel Prude's brother, said
his brother had mental health and addiction problems and
that he had a medical check-up at the hospital on March 22, after an episode in which he injured himself by diving on his head from the stairs and accused his family of wanting to kill him.
Protesters in Rochester, on Sept. 4.
Prude was naked and handcuffed when he was held by officers who responded to a call from his brother the next day, who said he was concerned that he might hurt himself.
Video from officers' body cameras shows them covering Prude's head with a 'no spitting hood', designed to protect police from bodily fluids, and then pressing her face against the pavement for two minutes.
The man apparently stopped breathing and died a week later in hospital, when he was disconnected from life support.
With information from AP and NBC News.