[OBSERVERS.FRANCE24] The New York Police Department outlawed the use of chokeholds in 1993. Yet this technique was nevertheless used last Thursday by a NYPD officer during the arrest of Eric Garner, an asthmatic man who died soon thereafter of a heart attack.
Eric Garner was 43 and lived on Staten Island, New York City's southernmost borough, with his wife and six children. He was arrested there by NYPD officers, who suspected him of illegally reselling untaxed cigarettes — a misdemeanor for which he had already been arrested several times. An inquiry is currently in progress.
A video shows Eric Garner being attacked by several police officers. He neither resisted arrest nor threatened them. "Each time you see me, you try to rile me up. [...] Please, leave me alone," he is heard saying. The 160-kilo, 1m90 man was eventually seized by four officers and forced to the ground. One plainclothes officer placed a chokehold on Garner. In the video, the victim can be heard saying, "I can't breathe" eight times, before losing consciousness.
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