The mayor of Rochester, New York has fired its police chief and suspended two city officials over the handling of the asphyxiation custody death of black man Daniel Prude.
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Video released by Prude's family showed officers using a mesh hood and pinning the 41-year-old to the footpath during the March arrest.
The footage has raised questions of a possible cover-up and turned Rochester into the latest flashpoint in a summer of protests over racial injustice and policing first sparked by George Floyd's May 25 death in Minneapolis police custody.
"We have a pervasive problem in the Rochester Police Department, one that views everything through the eyes of the badge and not the citizens we serve," Mayor Lovely Warren said on Monday
"It shows that Mr Prude's death was not taken as seriously as it should have been."
Warren also announced the sacking of Chief La'Ron Singletary and suspension of City Corporation Counsel Tim Curtin and Communications Director Justin Roj without pay for 30 days.
Singletary resigned last Tuesday along with his command staff, saying there had been a "mischaracterisation and politicisation" of his actions following the death of Prude in police custody.
It was unclear when the resignations were to take effect.
Seven police officers involved in the arrest were suspended on September 3 shortly after protests erupted following the release of the video of Prude's arrest.
The medical examiner ruled his death a homicide by asphyxiation, with the drug PCP a contributing factor.
He was having a psychotic episode when he was arrested.
Australian Associated Press