Protesters gather after announcement of no charges in Daniel Prude death

Demonstrators gathered in the streets of Rochester, N.Y., on Tuesday night following an announcement from state prosecutors that no charges would be filed against police officers involved in the death of Daniel Prude.

Prude, a 41-year-old unarmed Black man, died in March a week after he was arrested after running naked throughout city streets.

Prude’s death came two months before the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis that sparked months of nationwide protests over police brutality. Video of Prude’s arrest was widely circulated online and gained national attention.

“The current laws on deadly force have created a system that utterly and abjectly failed Mr. Prude and so many others before him,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in announcing a grand jury would not charge the officers who arrested Prude.

“Serious reform is needed, not only at the Rochester Police Department, but to our criminal justice system as a whole. I will be pursuing a multifaceted approach to address the very issues that have prevented us from holding officers accountable when they improperly use deadly force,” she added.

The announcement from James, made just after 4 p.m. on Tuesday, sparked demonstrations across the city that night, smaller than the ones for racial justice that took place in the city last summer. 

“White supremacy protects white supremacists. [The system] is not meant to protect us. The system did exactly what it was meant to do,” organizer Stanley Martin said during a speech at one demonstration, local media reported. “We keep marching; we keep fighting; we keep reimagining what the future looks like. The future does not include the RPD and I know that for a fact.”

Video and photos taken around the city show protesters standing toe-to-toe with police and marching along highway I-490 during demonstrations that wrapped up before midnight. 

Protesters climbing over barricades at Public Safety Building. RPD guarding entrance #DanielPrude protest pic.twitter.com/0SssHSfnZL

— Rob Bell (@byrobbell) February 24, 2021

Over the Child St barricades pic.twitter.com/jjAMrOP4X4

— Shawn Dowd (@sdowdphoto) February 24, 2021

Street is now blocked at Jefferson at Samuel McCree. Demonstrators are diverting traffic pic.twitter.com/gZZ3ulBK8i

— Rob Bell (@byrobbell) February 24, 2021

Police said they made no arrests and nobody was injured during the protests.