What do you think? Leave a respectful comment.

Deadly incidents in Rochester and Portland fuel new unrest

In parts of the U.S., there continue to be protests and outrage over police conduct and responses to demonstrations. In Rochester, New York, the family of Daniel Prude is calling for officers involved in his March death to be fired and charged. And a self-identified anti-fascist suspected of killing a right-wing protester in Portland, Oregon, was killed by law enforcement. Amna Nawaz reports.

Read the Full Transcript

  • Judy Woodruff:

    There continue to be protests and outrage in the U.S. over police response and how demonstrators are responding to each other, including a pair of deadly incidents.

    Amna Nawaz has an update on what's happening in Rochester, New York, and Portland, Oregon.

  • Amna Nawaz:

    New Yorkers today awoke to more details, but still many questions, months after the death of another Black man, Daniel Prude, after an encounter with Rochester police.

  • Protester:

    Which side are you on?

  • Amna Nawaz:

    The renewed focus follows more protests, after video emerged Wednesday showing Prude in police custody in March. Police handcuffed Prude after he ran naked into the street. Officers say he was spitting, and put a hood on his head as part of new statewide COVID-19 safety rule.

    They then pressed his face into the pavement for two minutes. Prude died a week later. The county medical examiner ruled his death a homicide caused by asphyxiation, and listed acute intoxication from the drug PCP as a contributing factor.

    His family says Prude had struggled with mental health issues.

    The head of the Rochester police union said today the video misrepresented what happened and that officers followed protocol by using the so-called spit hood during the pandemic.

  • Michael Mazzeo:

    An officer does not have the ability to go or disregard what they're mandated to do and what they're trained to do.

  • Amna Nawaz:

    Prude's family is calling for the officers to be fired and charged.

  • Joe Prude:

    That was a full-fledged lynching. I don't care what nobody say.

  • Amna Nawaz:

    On Thursday, the mayor suspended seven officers involved, with pay, and apologized to the family.

  • Mayor Lovely Warren:

    Mr. Daniel Prude was failed by our police department, our mental health care system, our society, and he was failed by me.

  • Amna Nawaz:

    Meanwhile, across the country in Portland Oregon, protests took a deadly turn, after the Saturday shooting of a man associated with a right-wing group.

    The shooting suspect, who self-identified as a left-wing anti-fascist, last night was himself shot and killed by law enforcement, who'd tracked him to neighboring Washington state.

    Protests in Portland are expected to continue this weekend, as the nation marks 100 days since the death of George Floyd.

    For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Amna Nawaz.

Listen to this Segment