ROCHESTER, NY (WXXI) - A grand jury is hearing from the New York Attorney General’s office in the case of Daniel Prude. The case got national attention when body camera footage showed Prude suffocating while being restrained by Rochester Police in March after they responded to a mental health call. He was revived, hospitalized, and died a week later. The video became public in September. Lawyer Matthew Rich is representing four of the officers involved in the case. He said the state attorney general’s office has been presenting to the grand jury since mid-October.
Grand jury proceedings are kept secret, so much about them is unknown. “The proceedings are kept secret, and the assistants over at the attorney general’s office have not really told me much about what’s going on with the grand jury,” said Rich. “None of my clients have testified, I don’t know how many witnesses have testified, and I don’t know when they are going to conclude.” Rich said he does not know when the proceedings will end or what charges the attorney general’s office is pursuing. Rich asserts his clients’ innocence and said one of them was not on the scene at all and none of them had physical contact with Prude. He said all of the officers, including the ones he’s not representing, are innocent. “It's our position that no one of the seven officers involved committed any crimes. They followed their training, and this was a tragic incident, but it was not because of anything the officers did or did not do,” said Rich. Prude’s family attorney Donald Thompson said Monday that they would not comment on the grand jury.