Home ›› 03 Sep 2020 ›› World Biz
An unarmed black man died in New York state after he was hooded by police and held face down to the road for two minutes, body camera footage shows.
Daniel Prude, 41, who had mental health issues, was restrained in March by police who put a 'spit hood' - a device used to stop detainees spitting or biting - on his head.
He later died of asphyxiation but his story has only now been made public.
His death was two months before the killing of George Floyd.
Floyd died after a white policeman knelt on his neck for nearly eight minutes in Minnesota. Anti-racism protests broke out in the US and globally in the wake of his killing.
Tensions have risen again in the US in recent weeks after black man Jacob Blake was shot seven times in the back during an arrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on 23 August, sparking violent protests in the city.
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has called for charges against police involved in Blake's shooting and that of Breonna Taylor, an African-American woman who was shot eight times by police who entered her apartment in Louisville, Kentucky on 13 March.
"I think we should let the judicial system work its way," he told a news conference in Delaware. "I do think, at a minimum, they need to be charged, the officers."
Protesters gathered in the city of Rochester, New York, on Wednesday over Prude's death. Several people were briefly taken into custody after entering the Public Safety Building, which serves as police headquarters, local media reports say.
US Attorney General William Barr on Wednesday dismissed accusations that black and white Americans were treated differently due to police racism.
In an interview with CNN, he said it was very rare for an unarmed black person to be shot by white officers.
"I think the narrative that the police are in some epidemic of shooting unarmed black men is simply a false narrative," he said.
(Source: BBC)
