ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Former Rochester Police Chief La'Ron Singletary is suing Mayor Lovely Warren and the City of Rochester.

According to the lawsuit, Singletary is accusing Warren of defamation, creating a hostile work environment and wrongful termination during the fallout of the death of Daniel Prude. He is seeking at least $300,000 for defamation, $300,000 for punitive damages, $300,000 for the hostile workplace impacting his job and $600,000 for the retaliatory termination, for $1.5 million in total.

Singletary was fired by Mayor Warren last September, about a week after Singletary announced his decision to retire.

Rochester City Hall and the city’s police department came under fire last September when police video from Prude’s arrest on March 23, 2020 showed RPD officers restraining a naked Prude in the middle of a street until he lost consciousness. He was taken to the hospital where he died seven days later after being taken off life support. His death was ruled a homicide.

Singletary says he kept the mayor properly informed of updates regarding Prude's death and he claims she pressured him to omit details to city council's investigation.

He alleges that the mayor lied repeatedly to the public about what she knew and when she knew it after Prude's death came to light, often casting the former chief as not being forthcoming.

Singletary previously filed a claim against the City of Rochester and Mayor Lovely Warren last December.

The state attorney general's office empaneled a grand jury to review evidence and announced that the officers would not be charged. They remain suspended with pay pending an internal RPD investigation, which the department says is finished and is with the department's command staff.

Attorneys for Singletary declined to comment.