Ep. 26 - Fighting Police Brutality with Don Thompson

In this episode, we examine how you can use the courts to fight police brutality. 

A brief review of the death of Daniel Prude, which we discussed at length in a previous episode.

Imagine your brother is visiting you from out of state. Sadly, he experiences a mental health crisis and runs out of your house on a freezing winter night. You call the police, desperate, asking for help finding your brother. You have no idea that getting the police involved will cause your brother to die.

That is what happened to Joe Prude and Daniel Prude in March 2020.

Police found Daniel naked, clearly unarmed, acting erratically in the freezing cold. Daniel’s life ended seven days after police handcuffed him, naked, face down in the middle of the street, put a spit sock over his head and restrained him on the ground until he lost consciousness.

Police and government officials tried to cover up police actions that resulted in Daniel’s death. Don sued to have the police body camera footage released to the family and held a press conference to inform the public.  Protests erupted, and the police cracked down hard. 

In this episode, we speak with Don Thompson, Joe Prude’s attorney. He will update you on Daniel Prude’s family’s wrongful death litigation against the Rochester Police and City government.  Also, what happened with the prosecutions of the protesters?  And to fight police brutality directly, Don filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the police department city and state officials for decades of police brutality. 

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Sources:

• Independent Investigation into Daniel Prude’s Death
• https://ecbawm.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Final-Report-of-the-Independent-Investigation-of-the-City-of-Rochesters-Response-to-the-Death-of-Daniel-Prude-issued-March-12-2021-00452102x9CCC2.pdf 
• Prude Update - GJ/Prosecutors Role
• https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-local-correspondents/the-high-price-of-a-new-york-city-cop?utm_source=nl&utm_brand=tny&utm_mailing=TNY_Daily_052421&utm_campaign=aud-dev&utm_medium=email&bxid=5be9d7e02ddf9c72dc252b18&cndid=25532216&hasha=de721cbe54e50bd1d0f198806b4d43ca&hashb=ee6c8266d070ad53598f1e645563b7aadbc07640&hashc=9634c4fd1ba5a0cf20a1b0fcdee3b9f159c9d7599530ab57e160b9d4f5fe40e2&esrc=AUTO_PRINT&utm_term=TNY_Daily&fbclid=IwAR1F686mqjZJig3RHSft4uZM5FWmD7qQlYjJR7MSKbQW9I5UWuBVSvXDm9Q

• Article on Willie Simmons: https://www.essence.com/news/willie-simmons-life-prison-alabama-habitual-offender/