Former Rochester Chief Reveals Mayor Forced Him To Lie About Daniel Prude Police Killing
Rochester’s former police chief claims that the city’s mayor forced him to lie about how the police killing of Daniel Prude was handled, and he was ultimately fired for refusing to do so.
According to PIX 11, court documents state that La’Ron Singletary claims that Mayor Lovely Warren told him to alter the facts and back her claims about the handling of the March 23 encounter that led to Prude’s death after officers pinned him down with a hood over his head. He was cold, naked and in distress in the cold.
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“On September 7, Mayor Warren asked me to withhold full and truthful information from the City Council investigation into the matter of Daniel Prude,” Singletary said. “Mayor Warren asked me instead, to provide false information and to omit material information to support the Mayor’s public narrative concerning her knowledge of the events in the matter of Daniel Prude.”
Singletary was fired back in September and believes it was due to him telling the mayor that he would not stray away from the facts of what really happened the night Prude was killed.
“For this reason and possibly others, I allege and believe I was terminated on September 14th,” he added. “The Mayor of the City of Rochester, and others acting on the Mayor’s behalf, impugned my performance as Chief of Police of the City of Rochester by making false statements and material omissions about my performance and discharge of duties in the matter of the treatment of Daniel Prude in the custody of the Rochester Police, his subsequent death, the internal investigations conducted by the Rochester Police Department and my communication with Mayor Warren and other city officials.”
The New York Attorney General is currently investigating the claims.