There have been three days of protests in Rochester, NY over the death of Daniel Prude which happened back in March. Last night the protests took a turn with some people in the crowd setting fires and confronting people eating dinner and forcing them to leave the street. We’ll get to that in a moment but here’s how the evening started with people gathering in a park:

Organizers of the protest have started speaking to the crowd in Rochester New York. #ROC pic.twitter.com/OmTDAywhJF

— Geoffery Rogers (@GeofferyRogers) September 4, 2020

By the time it was dark the crowd had grown to over a thousand people:

Here’s an oversight of the large crowd in Rochester New York. #ROC pic.twitter.com/vfVaviOMGM

— Geoffery Rogers (@GeofferyRogers) September 5, 2020

Some of the people who came were clearly looking for more than a peaceful march:

Protesters and organizers have shields, umbrellas, plastic guards, etc. I heard organizers say they have organized plans for the police tonight. #ROC pic.twitter.com/xQrPZqe4ID

— Geoffery Rogers (@GeofferyRogers) September 5, 2020

Eventually the crowd started marching through the streets chanting anti-police slogans:

Protesters in Rochester New York has started marching in the downtown area. #ROC pic.twitter.com/VP0LxhS9xS

— Geoffery Rogers (@GeofferyRogers) September 5, 2020

The only plan at this point seemed to be to “shut s**t down.”

The protest has stopped on Alexander and East Avenue. They are chanting as you can hear my video and more people are joining the protest in Rochester New York. #ROC pic.twitter.com/scBOCDuUAO

— Geoffery Rogers (@GeofferyRogers) September 5, 2020

And that’s when things started to get out of hand. Protesters approached people having dinner at two different restaurants and began overturning tables and forcing people to leave.

#HappeningNow the protesters in Rochester NY are "shutting down restaurants", tables are broken, people running off scared #rochesterprotests pic.twitter.com/oxmlZp526w

— @SCOOTERCASTER (FNTV) (@ScooterCasterNY) September 5, 2020

Another angle:

It got a little violent with chairs and glass being thrown. The crowd has since calm down. #ROC pic.twitter.com/a94FFrV7Ts

— Geoffery Rogers (@GeofferyRogers) September 5, 2020

Here’s a video of one restaurant having chairs, tables, glass etc. thrown and destroyed during the protest. #ROC pic.twitter.com/Yq0tVaEKfD

— Geoffery Rogers (@GeofferyRogers) September 5, 2020

Eventually the crowd confronted police:

Police is pushing protesters out of the area and saying over the speaker “this is the Rochester Police Department please leave the area” #ROC pic.twitter.com/JI0GIXuzLh

— Geoffery Rogers (@GeofferyRogers) September 5, 2020

Police fired pepper balls and the “protesters” responded with fireworks, rocks, etc.

Fireworks thrown at officers in Rochester New York during the protest. #ROC pic.twitter.com/1z649UsSNg

— Geoffery Rogers (@GeofferyRogers) September 5, 2020

A bus shelter was lit on fire:

Court St. #Rochester @13WHAM pic.twitter.com/iEAguLcKG4

— Dan Schrack (@DanSchrack) September 5, 2020

Later, a car came through one intersection and when people tried to stop it the driver pepper sprayed the protesters and then plowed through, leaving at least one person down on the ground.

https://twitter.com/RachelMcKibbens/status/1302121082883911680

The local ABC affiliate in Rochester tallies up the arrests and injuries for the night:

Eleven individuals were arrested and three law enforcement officers were hospitalized at the Daniel Prude protest.

Police declared the protest an “unlawful assembly” following a peaceful gathering at Martin Luther King Jr. Park earlier in the evening…

At midnight officers say they encountered a large crowd at the intersection of Court Street and South Clinton Avenue who again began throwing rocks, bottles, and other debris.

Small fires were also set by members of the crowd. Police say a group of people began hurling commercial grade fireworks directly at officers standing on the opposite side of the intersection.

If you missed the backstory to all of this it involves the death of a man named Daniel Prude in March. Prude’s brother Joe said he became erratic and expressed suicidal thoughts after taking PCP. He then threw himself down a flight of stairs into a basement in a suicide attempt. Next, Daniel ran from the house and Joe called police fearing he was out of control. Police arrived and took Daniel to a local hospital but he was released a few hours later. Almost as soon as he got home, Daniel went on the run again, shedding his clothes and running through the street naked in the middle of the night. Around 3 am a group of police found him breaking windows and that’s when things took an ugly turn.

Prude’s death was ruled a homicide stemming from asphyxia from the physical restraint in combination with PCP and delirium. This video makes a pretty good case for the idea that police aren’t equipped to handle mentally disturbed people. Seven officers involved in Prude’s death have been suspended. We’ll have to wait and see where it goes from here. BLM has vowed to remain in the streets all weekend so we very well could have more confrontations, arson and violence tonight.