Gentle Giant' Dies After NYPD Cop Puts Him In Chokehold (Video)

The 350-pound man, about to be arrested on charges of illegally selling cigarettes, was arguing with the police. When an officer tried to handcuff him, the man pulled free. The officer immediately threw his arm around the man’s neck and pulled him to the ground, holding him in what appears, in a video, to be a chokehold. The man can be heard saying “I can’t breathe” over and over again as other officers swarm about. Now, the death of the man, Eric Garner, 43, soon after the confrontation on Thursday on Staten Island, is being investigated by the police and prosecutors. At the center of the inquiry is the officer’s use of a chokehold — a dangerous maneuver that was banned by the New York Police Department more than 20 years ago but that the department cannot seem to be rid of.“As defined in the department’s patrol guide, this would appear to have been a chokehold,” the police commissioner, William J. Bratton, said at a news conference in City Hall on Friday afternoon.Police said Garner, who was a married father of six children, died of a heart attack during the arrest, according to The Associated Press. The NYPD said Garner had been seen selling untaxed cigarettes, and that he had been arrested before for the same offense. Garner denied the allegations and asked a plainclothes officer why he was stopped. “Every time you see me you want to mess with me," Garner told cops in the video. "I’m tired of it. It stops today!” When Garner refused to put his hands behind his back, and asked one officer not to touch him, two others moved in to make the arrest. Video shows at least one officer putting Garner in a chokehold and slamming him on the ground.Garner can be heard screaming "I can't breathe, I can't breathe!" before going quiet.Multiple witnesses to the death expressed anger at the NYPD.New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio released a statement about Garner’s death, assuring it will be investigated. "On behalf of all New Yorkers, I extend my deepest condolences to the family of Mr. Garner, who died yesterday afternoon while being placed in police custody,” the statement read. “We have a responsibility to keep every New Yorker safe, and that includes when individuals are in custody of the NYPD. That is a responsibility that Police Commissioner [Bill] Bratton and I take very seriously. We are harnessing all resources available to the city to ensure a full and thorough investigation of the circumstances of this tragic incident. The NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau is working closely with the Office of the Richmond County District Attorney, which is leading this investigation."