Whispers of a possible lawsuit against Mayor Lovely Warren & City Hall by former Police Chief La’Ron Singletary may be confirmed. According to 13Wham, on December 3, Singletary filed a Notice of Claim against the City of Rochester. The website, NYCOURTS.GOV states filing a Notice of Claim must be done by "anyone who wishes to commence a civil lawsuit against New York State, your local government (county, city, town, village) or most government agencies for damages because of a certain alleged conduct or negligence must first file with the State or municipal government agency a document known as a Notice of Claim and must do so within a fixed deadline after the accident or event."
In September, rumors circulated for weeks that Mayor Lovely Warren was notified about Daniel Prude the morning of the incident, and Singletary may have evidence to prove it. The ousted chief reappeared weeks ago after his attorney stated, Singletary may or may not testify in the City Council investigation. We reported, Is a legal battle headed to a courtroom near you? Former Police Chief La’ron Singletary popped up out of nowhere to remind us things are about to get messy. The former leader of the Rochester Police Department brushed off a subpoena to testify in the independent investigation of Daniel Prude.
According to 13Wham, Investigator Andrew Celli, Jr. said his office subpoenaed materials from the former Police Chief La’Ron Singletary and requested he provides testimony related to the investigation. Celli said Singletary, through his attorney, declined to provide related documents or to testify. “Chief Singletary’s refusal to cooperate with the investigation, while very unfortunate, will not materially impede our progress,” Celli said in a statement. “Even as we actively consider remedies for such non-compliance (Including, but not limited to, court enforcement) our work will continue, drawing on the many other sources of documentary evidence and testimony that are available to us.”
Singletary may be seeking vindication after his abrupt departure, just days before his scheduled retirement. The ship started sinking faster than the Titanic just hours after the community learned of the tragic murder and cover-up of Daniel Prude. Protesters across the city began demanding the resignations of several government officials, including Warren and Singletary. The mayor tried in vain to distance herself from the backlash but discovered it was six months too late. Days later, Warren accused Singletary of misleading her by withholding the severity of the case. The mayor claimed she believed Prude died from a drug overdose and only learned of the true nature of his death in August, after watching the video. Days later, Warren had a change of heart and tried to back-paddle after calling Singletary a liar and claiming that he mislead her. Unfortunately, the damage was done and the entire command staff tried to jump ship. But, before they could bail out, Warren decided it was time to show "who's the boss" by relieving Singletary of his duties early.
Now, Singletary has the ball in his court and called on high-priced attorney Michael Tallon to take care of his "dirty' work. According to reports, Tallon confirmed that Singletary may participate in the investigation, but only after people like Mayor Lovely Warren have been questioned. Will Warren take the bait or choose to opt out as well? Singletary may be attempting to use Warren's statements against her. Which could place her on the hook for future investigations based on her testimony.
Councilman Willie Lightfoot spoke with us regarding their investigation. Lightfoot stated, “ There are some things I can talk about, there are some things I can’t talk about, and some things I honestly don’t know because it is an independent investigation and we’re not privy to any knowledge of the investigation whatsoever. There are several investigations, there is the one the mayor called internally for her staff to do, The attorney general is doing an investigation, Leticia James and her office, and then Council called for an independent investigation as well too. So, I think it is important for your viewers and readers to understand there are three investigations going on at the same time. The one that we chose to do, The Council, we have in the charter, subpoena power, and we’ve only in the history of the Council existence, I think the power has only been used two or three times. So, it has been used less than three times and this is one of them. So, we exercised that right to do an independent investigation, the same people who are doing our accountability case, we currently have in the Supreme Court are the same ones that are doing this independent investigation. It is an out-of-town firm out of New York City. What I can tell you is, one, it is a real independent investigation, meaning none of us Councilmembers are involved in that investigation whatsoever. There are two Councilmembers Malik Evans and Mike Patterson, who were set-up to be like, there is a legal term that they have to set-up these documents, they have to list who they go to. It is a procedural thing, so they were listed as that committee of that part of the procedural thing, but they don’t actually see any documents. So all of that stuff goes directly to the lawyer because he is retained by us, it has to come through us.” The City Council investigation is still active and no updates have been provided.
We do know, the internal investigation done by the mayor's office found no evidence of wrongdoing. Activist Anthony Hall posted on Facebook, "So the office of integrity for the City of Rochester has no integrity
This is a joke
Whelp I was going to relax today but seems like the heat must be turned back on
Vince Felder you said how can we move forward WE don't until #DanielPrude killing gets Justice
IT'S TIME FOR YOU ALL TO SPEAK AS ONE VOICES AGAINST THIS DEBACLE OF AN INVESTIGATION AND THE MISSHANDLING OF THE INFORMATION". Based on video footage, protests were ignited in the streets of Rochester as unhappy activists attempt to keep Daniel Prude's name alive.