Gracie - I hear you and fully agree if he had followed the officer's rules none of this would have happened. I believe when he was saying "I can't breathe" he was trying to communicate his distress and unfortunately died as a result of that distress. It's simply awful to watch that tape and see a man die because police officers were smashing him in the ground. My concern is that particular officer also has a history and why they weren't able to talk him down. He wasn't getting aggressive or threatening - he didn't want to be touched and if calmer minds had prevailed someone could have reminded him he knows the drill and this is the way it has to go. Would he have complied??? I don't know, but I would have like to at least have seen an attempt to de-escalate the situation.
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