ROCHESTER, N.Y. — New York’s state attorney general is calling on church leaders to help lead the charge for criminal justice reform in Rochester. Letitia James met with church leaders Wednesday morning, discussing the death of Daniel Prude and the grand jury decision to not charge officers who responded to the call which led to his death.  

What You Need To Know

  • Pastors from Rochester’s Black churches met Attorney General Letitia James Wednesday

  • Pastors say James wants them to pressure local officials to reform police practices, and fix a system they say is broken

  • The gathering with clergy and the attorney general was not open to the public

Among all the questions facing Rochester at Aenon Missionary Baptist Church, there was this one:

“Where do we go from here?” said Pastor Fred Johnson of First Genesis Baptist Church.

To that question, there are no easy answers.

“I am absolutely disgusted,” said Rev. Myra Brown, of Spiritus Christi Church. “I’m angry, and I’m frustrated, and I’m calling on Rochester to stand up.”

Pastors from Rochester’s Black churches met Attorney General Letitia James at the church — the same one where on Tuesday James announced there would be no charges against seven Rochester police officers who responded to a call which led to the death of Daniel Prude.

“What is happening here is blatant disregard for the lives of Blacks and for the lives of those that is looked at as don't matter,” said Rev. Alton Byrd of Powerful Minorities Moving Forward.

Pastors say James wants them to pressure local officials to reform police practices, and fix a system they say is broken.

“We want to be part of the solution,” said Johnson. “Moving forward or dismantling this institutional racism that's taking place.”

“This is absolutely foolishness, this is ridiculous,” said Brown. “We need to repeal this 1819 policing blueprint that Rochester police are working from, that gives it permissions to do all the things that happened to Daniel Prude.”

Prude died in March, one week after police officers responded to a call for a man in distress. When they arrived, he was naked. His autopsy said Prude had PCP in his system. In what some in the community say was a blatant cover-up, details of his death didn’t become public until months later. 

The grand jury proceeding, to them, was another blow.

“It was exactly what I expected,” said Brown. “When you live inside of a rigged system, then you know that it's an outlier that you would get justice right for Daniel Prude.”

The gathering with clergy and the attorney general was not open to the public. Leaving the church following the meeting, James commented, briefly, before getting into her waiting SUV.

“I love Rochester,” said James. “I believe in transparency and I’m committed to justice. Thank you. And keep the peace.”

Following the death of Prude, and others before him around the nation, community leaders have talked a lot about healing. But the wounds are too fresh — and some say there’s too much work to be done before that can happen.

“There's a lot of healing that needs to be done,” said Rev. Lewis Stewart of United Church Leadership Ministry. “But I would say before that healing can be done, we need to come to grips with how we're going to deal with police departments, and especially the RPD.”

“We’re unprotected,” said Brown. “And shame on us if we think that this OK. Shame on our state politicians and our local politicians if they think that's OK.”