Rochester unrest: Some things to know about spit hoods

Disturbing police body camera footage of a Black man being covered with a spit hood earlier this year has renewed scrutiny over the restraining device used by some law enforcement agencies.

Daniel T. Prude, 41, of Chicago, died March 30 of asphyxiation in Rochester, New York, seven days after being pinned to the ground by police officers. The video and documents related to the case were released Wednesday by Prude’s family, which had made a public records request, WROC reported.

The release of the video footage led Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren to suspend seven police officers with pay and rebuke police Chief La’Ron Singletary for his handling of the case, the Democrat and Chronicle reported.

Prude, who had a history of mental illness, had left his brother’s home naked in the early hours of March 23 and ran through the streets. Behaving erratically, Prude told at least one person that he had the coronavirus, according to a police report. Prude’s brother called 911 after he ran away, telling police the man had gotten high on PCP, The Associated Press reported.

A Rochester police officer put the spit hood over Prude’s head about three minutes after police detained him. According to police, Prude spit a few times after the hood was put in place and was told to stop, The New York Times reported.

Prude complied with police orders but remained agitated. That is when the officers pinned him to the ground, with one keeping a knee on his back while another pressed the man’s face into the pavement, the Democrat and Chronicle reported. After noticing Prude was not breathing, police administered CPR and the man was taken to an area hospital. Prude died a week later. His death was ruled a homicide, according to the autopsy report. Monroe County Medical Examiner Nadia Granger made no mention of the spit hood, ruling Prude’s death a homicide caused by “complications of asphyxia in the setting of physical restraint.”

Here are some things to know about spit hoods.

What are spit hoods made of?

Most spit hoods are made from nylon mesh. They loosely cover a person’s head with an elastic band to keep it in place around the person’s neck. Some of the spit hoods have plastic pieces that cover the mouth and portion of the apparatus. Spit hoods can be bought online for as little as $3.

Why are spit hoods used?

According to many police departments, the spit hood is used to mitigate health risks. For example, the Eugene Police Department in Oregon said department-issued spit hoods can be used on persons “when they exhibit spitting behavior or threaten or attempt to spit.”

Critics have denounced spit hoods as “dangerous and inhumane,” The Associated Press reported.

Adanté Pointer, an Oakland civil rights lawyer, said the device “looks like something out of Abu Ghraib,” the notorious Iraqi prison used during Saddam Hussein’s regime.

But University of South Carolina criminal justice professor Geoffrey Alpert said hoods have reduced the risk of officers and bystanders from getting spit on, the AP reported.

“Take away COVID, it’s just a nasty thing anyway,” Alpert said.

Ed Obayashi, a use-of-force expert and Plumas County deputy sheriff, told the Sacramento Bee that a spit hood “is one of the most passive restraint devices out there.”

“They can breathe easily, move easily in a spit sock,” Obayashi told the newspaper in 2019. “I’ve never heard of anyone being investigated or disciplined for using spit sock. "

What are the hazards?

If a person’s face is covered, it is possible that first responders or police officers may find it difficult to monitor breathing, according to the Oakland Reporter. A person wearing the mask might bleed or vomit into the mask, clogging the mesh and hampering the ability to breathe.

In a 2019 study, The American Journal of Emergency Medicine examined whether wearing a spit sock caused a clinically significant impact on breathing. The study concluded that healthy people did not have a problem breathing while wearing the device.

However, on that March night in Rochester, Prude was clearly agitated. He was handcuffed and on the ground, shouting at police, the Democrat and Chronicle reported.

Amnesty International, which condemned the use of spit hoods Thursday, said they are particularly dangerous devices when a person is already in distress, the AP reported.

“Spit hoods can cause extreme distress and restricted breathing,” Justin Mazzola, Amnesty International’s deputy director of research, said in a statement. “They are especially dangerous when someone is already in crisis as Daniel Prude appeared to be. This is just one of a number of cases of people being suffocated by police and illustrates the need for systemic police reform.”

In March, with Prude restrained with the spit hood, one Rochester officer could be heard on the body camera video saying, “Ugh, he’s puking.” After realizing Prude had stopped breathing, paramedics began CPR.

“They put a bag over his head, and they squeezed the air out of him,” said Nicolette Ward, a lawyer for one of Prude’s daughters. “He spent the last moments of his life breathing in his own vomit.”

Legal matters

In 2015, officials in Davidson County, Tennessee, settled with the family of Michael David Jones, who died Nov. 20, 2013, The Tennessean reported. Jones’ family filed a negligence lawsuit filed against the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office after Jones, who while being held on a public intoxication charge, died after a correctional officer put a spit hood on him, the newspaper reported.

Also in 2015, the widow of a Michigan man filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Midland County and six corrections officers in the death of Jack B. Marden, MLive reported. Part of the lawsuit accused the defendants of causing Marden’s death from an inability to breathe caused by “unwarranted use of a spit mask.”

In 2019, a viral video surfaced of police in Sacramento, California, placing a spit hood over the head of a 12-year-old boy who allegedly spit on an officer while being detained, the Sacramento Bee reported.

Responding to criticism about using a spit hood on a juvenile -- it resembled “something out of Guantánamo Bay” -- Tanya Faison, Sacramento Black Lives Matter founder told the newspaper -- the Sacramento Police Department released a statement that said the boy was running away from a security guard and stopped to help. While detaining the boy, the youth allegedly spit in the officer’s face “multiple times.” The boy was later released to his mother and cited, police said.

The boy’s family filed a federal lawsuit in April 2020 against the City of Sacramento, KXTV reported.

On April 21, 2020, in Tucson, Arizona, Carlos Adrian Ingram-Lopez, 27, died after he was restrained by Tucson police. Three Tucson police officers resigned and Chief Chris Magnus offered his resignation after the death was publicized in June, The Arizona Republic reported.

An autopsy commissioned by Ingram-Lopez’s family found that he likely suffocated to death. The family filed a wrongful-death notice of claim in August, seeking damages of $10 million from the city of Tucson and $3 million from each of the three officers, according to the Republic.

In the Prude case, there were six officers at the scene in Rochester on March 23, according to USA Today: Mark Vaughn, Paul Ricotta, Andrew Specksgoor, Josiah Harris, Troy Talladay and Sgt. Michael Magri.

What happened to Prude was not an isolated incident, Ashley Gantt, a community organizer from Free the People Roc and the New York Civil Liberties Union, told the Times.

“Daniel’s case is the epitome of what is wrong with this system,” Gantt told the newspaper.

Cox Media Group