This death does not seem right. I do not know if he put him in a chokehold or not, but the chokehold or whatever it is contributed to this man’s death. He was face down on the pavement saying, “I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe.” Why is he saying that? Why can’t he breathe? What should have been done when he had his face down in the pavement saying he couldn’t breathe?
“compression of neck (chokehold), compression of chest and prone positioning during physical restraint by police.”
That’s the cause of his death. I would think if he is saying he can’t breathe with his face down in the sidewalk, you turn him over so he can breathe. I think someone messed up here. And whatever chokehold or not-chokehold was used here, it looks like it helped kill him.
Garner is an idiot for fighting the police. The cop grabbed his arm and pulled it behind his back to handcuff him. Granted, this is a very traumatic thing to have happen to you. Have you ever had a police officer grab your arms and throw them behind your back so he can handcuff you. They usually do this before they even tell you they are putting you under arrest.
Really they could just say that you are under arrest and ask you to put your arms behind your back to be handcuffed. When they pull your arms back like that, you know what it happening (you are being arrested) but they haven’t told you yet, and honestly, it feels like a pretty damned violent act when it is being done to you.
Cops have done this to me twice. They threw me up against me car both times, and I believe grabbed my arms and threw them behind my back to handcuff them. I think I asked, “What am I being arrested for?” and I think they told me. After that happens to you, it’s quite a shock. You are stunned, shocked, freaked out, traumatized, devastated and also quite angry (at least I was). It feels like your whole world just fell apart and the weight of the whole world slammed right into your face.
I cooperated when they did this to me, but honestly it all happened so fast that I didn’t even think about it. If a cop throws your arms behind your back, he’s going to handcuff you. He’s doing that because he’s arresting you. You will find out soon enough why he’s arresting you. You really need to just let them do it. Don’t fight them when they are trying to cuff you. You’re already gone at that point, you won’t convince them not to arrest you and you won’t fight your way out of this.
Eric Garner was not exactly a model citizen. Between age 10 and age 43, he had been arrested 30 times.
