We’re here today because it’s been over 9 months since the RPD murdered Daniel Prude, and

the Prude family has still not received justice. The cops who murdered Daniel Prude, Troy
Talladay, Mark Vaughn and Franciso Santiago are still roaming freely, enjoying the holidays
with their loved ones, while the Prude family mourns and suffers daily, without their brother,
friend, father, uncle; he’s gone.

Receiving the report from the Office of Public Integrity today was like salt in an open wound to a
community that has yet to receive an honest and accountable response from the Mayor and her
employees regarding the murder of Daniel Prude. The images of Prude’s arrest and subsequent
murder are still fresh in our minds. The word homicide, written across his autopsy report, still
haunts us. The facts of this case, plain for the entire world to see, have not been forgotten.
Furious, we stand here once again to set the record straight, and assure you that we will not
rest until Daniel Prude and Black people across the diaspora receive justice for his murder, and
all Black lives lost to state sanctioned violence.

Today, several news outlets in our city reported that the Office of Public Integrity - if you can
even call it that - found no evidence that ​any city employee​ had violated any policies or ethical
standards in the death of Daniel Prude. These news reports, as stated, are false, and
dangerously misleading. ​Why?​ Because as anyone who reads the OPI’s report will clearly see,
the scope of their investigation did not include the most relevant group of city employees - the
Rochester Police Department. ​DON’T BE FOOLED!​ ​The police are city employees! Our tax
dollars pay their wages! ​Let us be clear - the news outlets that ignored this obvious and critical
fact failed to accurately report on this issue, once again. They need to do better, and we are
here to hold them accountable. A more accurately headline would’ve read:: OFFICE OF
PUBLIC INTEGRITY LACKS INTEGRITY!

As for the report itself - it’s a joke, but we always knew it would be. Not a single rochester police
officer was interviewed for this report. The internal communications of the RPD were not
audited. Simply put, the largest group of city employees accused of murdering a human being,
in clear violation of the ethics and policies of our city, were not even included in the
investigation. The office tasked with preserving the integrity of city employees is incapable of
doing so, and this report demonstrates that clearly.

This investigation was an utter waste of time and resources, and was simply a ploy to protect
Lovely Warren and prevent further accountability on the part of her administration and legal
counsel. However, perhaps unintentionally, the report does reveal an important detail regarding
the events immediately following Daniel Prudes murder. In reference to text messages
exchanged between Mayor Warren and former RPD Police Chief Singletary on March 24th, the
report reads:

“These messages were not available for the Office of Public Integrity to review via phone
content retrieved off of the Mayor’s city issued cell phone.​ ​During an interview with the Mayor,
OPI confirmed that ​all text messages from Chief Singletary were sent to the Mayor’s
personal cell phone.”
So we ask the so-called Office of Public Integrity - what does that say about the ethics of our
mayor? Would a mayor with integrity, not engaged in any wrong doing, who seeks to remain
accountable to her constituents, choose to communicate with her police chief on a private,
personal phone? A phone that she knows is not subject to investigation by your office? We say
no! It is absolutely unacceptable that ALL TEXT MESSAGES between Mayor Warren and the
Police Chief were exchanged ​effectively in secret​. For all we know, it is standard in the
Mayor’s office for sensitive conversations to be conducted in this secret way. The fact that the
Director of the Office of Public Integrity, Timothy Weir, did not choose to probe this matter
further, in the context of an investigation of ethics violations, proves that he has very little to
offer the people of Rochester when it comes to accountability and public integrity.

It’s important to note that Timothy Weir is appointed by the Mayor, and is her subordinate.
Lovely Warren has full hiring and firing power over Weir. Any findings that do not paint her in a
positive light, put him at risk of termination. Weir’s subordinate role to the Mayor, creates a
clear conflict of interest as it relates to this investigation. The City can not, and should not
investigate itself. We call on City Council and the people of Rochester to join us in questioning
every single aspect of this report, and demanding a new, independent inquiry is made into this
clear conflict of interest. Further, we demand - and we truly can’t believe we even have to say
this - that cellular communication between the Mayor and any city employee be made on a
city-issued phone effective immediately.

This report was produced by bureaucrats that work for the Mayor, in order to defend her and the
police department she is responsible for. Despite its claims, it provides no clarity or
transparency regarding one of the most extreme and obvious instances of ethics violations in
our cities history. The people of our city will not stand for this! We saw the crimes of those cops
with our own eyes. In real time, we watched as the Mayor and her subordinates scrambled to
cover up an OBVIOUS murder, while avoiding taking any responsibility whatsoever. We
marched as they sent their thugs - the RPD, the Monroe County Sheriffs office, and Trumps FBI
- into our streets to silence our dissent and terrorize our loved ones. We will not soon forget! We
demand accountability! We are hungry for justice, and we are not done fighting for it!