NewsRadio WHAM 1180 Reporting - The independent investigator appointed by the Rochester City Council has concluded that the principal reason the city government suppressed information about the death of Daniel Prude for more than four months was to cover it up.
The report says then-Police Chief La'Ron Singletary's disclosures to the city's Corporation Counsel and the Communications Director deemphasized the role of police restraints in Prude's death, and did not capture the disturbing tenor of the encounter.
The report says those characterizations likely impacted how the City officials viewed what had occurred.
It says Corporation Counsel Tim Curtin discouraged Mayor Warren from going public, citing reasons that were factually incorrect or without a legal basis.
And the report says Warren, Curtin, and Singletary made false statements in September about why the case was not disclosed sooner.
The report is posted online here: RochesterInvestigation.com.
Meanwhile, Mayor Lovely Warren is releasing a statement following the release of the special council’s report.
The statement says in part quote ““I welcome today’s report because it allows our community to move forward. Throughout City government, we have acknowledged our responsibility, recognized that changes are necessary and taken action.”
The statement goes on to say that the city must go even farther in fully addressing policing, mental health treatment and systemic inequality.
The Mayor saying reforming these challenges lies at the heart of the Equity and Recovery Agenda and the Executive Order 203 reforms her office has proposed.
Today we had the Democrat and Chronicle's Will Cleveland on to break down the investigator's findings. Listen to tat interview below.
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