Of course the police weren’t charged.
They didn’t do anything wrong.
They didn’t break any laws or violate any policies or deviate from their training. They used techniques and equipment approved by their department and the state.
Of course they weren’t charged. They shouldn’t have been.
That’s true.
But it’s also true that Daniel Prude shouldn’t have died. He should have been treated differently, he shouldn’t have been in that situation, he should have not been on the cold pavement of Jefferson Avenue that night.
He was not violent, he was not breaking the law, he was having a drug and psychotic episode.
He needed protection and treatment, but he got handcuffs and death.
That’s true.
Both of those things are true, but they are not mutually exclusive. Rather, together they point out an opportunity for change and growth, an area where we, as a society, can do better.
In the unsealing of the grand jury decision in the matter of the death of Daniel Prude, there is opportunity for rage and division, the shouting of slogans and the waving of fists. Some will support the police all the more and others will hate the police all the more and the two groups will hate each another all the more, and the cycle of American division will spin ever faster on the streets and in the hearts of Rochester.
That’s what will probably happen.
But it’s not what has to happen.
If the focus is on fixing instead of fighting, if people can act out of principle instead of prejudice, something good can come of this sad matter.
At its root, the series of incidents that led to Daniel Prude’s death aren’t about the police, they are about the unmet needs of a troubled man adrift in society. He is an example of what people can face as they struggle with homelessness, drug abuse and mental illness. The only reason he ended up being a police call is because society – and its government – failed to serve him effectively in those three other areas. When needs go unmet, ultimately the police get called, and they are required to handle tasks so far out of their area of true expertise that problems unavoidably ultimately arise.
And sometimes those problems can turn tragic.
We want to say that Daniel Prude died because he was held down, or because he had a spit sock on. But really he died because there were no effective immediate mental health services available to him. He had already, only hours before, been taken by police to the biggest hospital in the region, supposedly treated, and then released to run naked and stoned down the street. That mental health care didn’t work. It failed. It must be improved or replaced.
Further, Daniel Prude came to Rochester because he lost a place to stay in Chicago, and because his chronic mental illness and drug use were making him unmanageable there. He didn’t have long-term mental health care and he didn’t have effective drug treatment, and he didn’t have a place to stay.
The cops can’t fix any of those things.
But a society that takes such things seriously can.
And society – government – has to decide if it wants to.
Or is it easier just to yell at the cops and pretend that they are the problem?
Drug treatment is hard to get into, and typically ineffective. Are we willing to demand change and improvement in both access and effectiveness? Permanent shelter for the rootless is expensive and sometimes refused, can we accept both realities?
Crisis mental health services – teams of professionals who can respond around the clock anywhere in the community with lights-and-siren speed – are an extremely expensive proposition, but the only true solution for a person in Daniel Prude’s situation. Do we do that with special mental-health ambulances, or do we do that with teams in cars sent out by cities or counties?
That’s a decision politicians and the community will have to decide – with a big assist from the taxpayer.
Those are the real issues – homelessness, drug addiction, and mental illness.
And people can agree on those things, no matter what they think of law enforcement.
So, of course the police weren’t indicted, they didn’t break the law.
And of course something else should have happened, Daniel Prude didn’t deserve to die.
Both of those things are true.
And maybe we can avoid such tragedies in the future, if we truly make this about helping people in trouble, and not about bashing people with whom we disagree.