Seven US police officers have been suspended for their involvement in the arrest of Daniel Prude, an African-American man who died after being pinned down while his head was covered with a spit hood.
Mr Prude, 41, was having a mental health episode on 23 March when his brother Joe called the Rochester Police Department for help.
Footage of the arrest, which has been released online, shows police handcuffing Mr Prude, who was naked, and covering his head with a spit hood - designed to protect police from bodily fluids.
Officers then pressed Mr Prude's head into the pavement for two minutes. After that, he stopped breathing.
Mr Prude was taken to hospital. When he arrived, he was brain dead, according to his family. He died a week later, on 30 March, after being taken off life support.
Details of Mr Prude's arrest have emerged only this week, after his family obtained footage of the arrest following a public records request.
Mr Prude's brother Joe described the arrest as "cold-blooded murder", calling for the officers to be sacked. "I placed a phone call for my brother to get help. Not for my brother to get lynched."
“How many more brothers gotta die for society to understand this needs to stop?” he added.
The arrest has sparked protests across Rochester, with reports of police using pepper spray and tear gas to disperse crowds of demonstrators.
(The New York Times) Source: The New York Times
Footage posted to social media on Friday shows a vehicle driving through protesters at Times Square.
The incident came two months before the killing of George Floyd, whose death at the hands of white police officers in Minneapolis set off a series of worldwide protests.
The use of spit hoods has been criticised around the world, including in Australia.
In 2016, footage of Dylan Voller shackled to a restraining chair with a spit hood over his head was featured on the ABC's Four Corners program, sparking global outrage and prompting a royal commission into youth detention.
