A Staten Island man died Thursday after a New York Police Department officer put him in a chokehold. The incident was captured on video by a bystander and obtained by the The New York Daily News.
You can hear Eric Garner, 43, shouting, “I can’t breathe! I can’t breathe!” as, at least five, NYPD cops wrestle him on the ground in front of a beauty supply store in the Tompkinsville section of Staten Island. Earlier in the video, Garner appears to be being questioned by an officer about the illegal sale of cigarettes after, he says, he broke up a fight in the area. The scene turned ugly, however, when the officer attempted to handcuff Garner.
Garner balked and was quickly placed in a chokehold by one officer and wrestled to the ground as four more piled on. Within moments, Garner – a married father of six – stopped struggling and appeared unconscious.
“When I kissed my husband this morning, I never thought it would be for the last time,” Garner’s wife, Esaw, told the Daily News. According to an NYPD spokesman, Garner “was being placed in custody, went into cardiac arrest and died.”
NewsOne will be following this story as it unfolds an details emerge.
[VIDEO] NYPD Chokehold Kills Asthmatic Staten Island Man was originally published on newsone.com
