#Naked demonstrators in spit hoods show up to Rochester protests over Daniel Prude

Naked protesters sat silently on Exchange Street facing Rochester’s Public Safety Building.
democratandchronicle.com

Naked demonstrators wearing spit hoods made a stark protest in Rochester Monday morning over the caught-on-camera fatal arrest of Daniel Prude.

At least half a dozen protesters disrobed and sat in the rain outside the upstate city’s Public Safety Building, the spot at the heart of ongoing protests over the 41-year-old’s March death in police custody.

Social media posts show them mostly wearing nothing but spit hoods — the same as the naked Prude was forced to wear, as seen in disturbing police bodycam videos released last week.

The group — some with “Black Lives Matter” written on their bodies — sat in silence after handing out a list of demands for Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state legislators, the Democrat and Chronicle said.

They called for a New York-wide policy to stop police responding to mental health calls — such as Prude’s — as well as banning police from using force against peaceful protesters.

Rochester police have fired pepper balls and tear gas at protesters who started taking to the streets last Wednesday following the release of video showing Prude getting repeatedly pressed to the ground while naked and in the spit hood.

The protests continued for a fifth night Sunday, although they appeared to remain peaceful with no arrests, police said.

New York Attorney General Letitia James has moved to form a grand jury to investigate Prude’s death, which an autopsy labeled a homicide caused by “complications of asphyxia in the setting of physical restraint, excited delirium [and] acute phencyclidine [PCP] intoxication.”

All seven cops involved were suspended last week — five months after Prude’s death.