

People are outraged after video footage emerged showing the arrest of an African-American man. The man, who was being apprehended under suspicion of forgery, was subdued by an officer who had his knee on his neck.
Disturbing video shows a Minneapolis police officer with his knee pinned on the neck of a moaning black man, who later died.
The footage, which was shared by bystander Darnella Frazier, showed the man appearing to be in distress on the ground at the rear of a squad car.
“I cannot breathe! I cannot breathe!” the man yells in the video posted to Facebook. “Don’t kill me!”
In the clip, onlookers repeatedly plead with the officer, who is white, to take his knee off the man’s neck. At one point, the man becomes unresponsive.
“Bro, he’s not even f–king moving!” one says to police. “Get off of his neck!”
Another bystander asks the cop, “Did you kill him?”
The Minneapolis Police Department said it had been responding to a report of a “forgery in progress” Monday night and were advised that the man, believed to be in his 40s, appeared to be under the influence.
Police said they ordered him to get out of his car, which he did but then “physically resisted officers.”
“Officers were able to get the suspect into handcuffs and noted he appeared to be suffering medical distress,” police said.
The police said no weapons were involved in the incident by either the police or the unidentified man. The officers have been placed on leave while the matter is investigated.
Here’s the disturbing footage of the arrest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzZYfvFW-LM
TMZ reported on the police chief and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey’s comments on the death.
Mayor Frey says, “Being Black in [America] should not be a death sentence.” He goes on to say, “When you hear someone calling for help, you’re supposed to help. This officer failed in the most basic, human sense.” Frey added, “All I keep coming back to is this: this man should not have died.”
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Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo also came to the podium and backed up what the Mayor said. He also implied the knee technique was not one sanctioned or taught at the police academy there, and also discussed why the feds were set to investigate.
The video is very hard to watch and it’s difficult to conclude that the police did not use excessive force. The suspect was wanted for forgery for crying out loud, not murder or armed robbery. The officer kept his knee on the man’s neck for quite a long time, even when he did not appear to be resisting any longer.
The video looks really bad, but we do not yet have all the facts at this point. We also don’t know what happened before the camera started rolling. Did the officers use an improper or banned hold technique?
Furthermore, we do not know the actual cause of death at this point. The man was allegedly under the influence of something and we don’t know if that was related to the cause of his death.
All we can hope for is that the state authorities and F.B.I. conduct a thorough and fair investigation and that justice is done. If it’s really as bad as it looks, the officers should be punished to the full extent of the law.