I just finished viewing the videos of the arrest and death of Eric Garner. I believe he was not given sufficient time and space to comply with the officers. They appeared to gang up on him and bully him rather than tell him he was under arrest and for what and then allow him a little space and time to comply. They just vigorously acted like a dog pack to bring him to the ground. He did not seem to provoke them on the video.
As a physician and medical researcher I believe that he was choked until he was struggling to breath and then his chest was compressed by position (forced hands behind his back when he was so obese they should have considered using more handcuffs or cuffing him in front as he did not seem to be resisting. He complained about having difficulty breathing and they did nothing (didn’t help him sit up or take off the cuffs or put extra cuffs on to lengthen them so he wasn’t squeezed so much.
Then as he was dying and losing his pulse, becoming clearly unresponsive and not answering the officers, not one officer or paramedic made any effort to carefully assess his level of consciousness, do mouth to mouth resuscitation or take an ambu bag and breath for him. There was no CPR for more than five minutes on the video while he lay unconscious, totally unresponsive.
This is gross incompetence or willful medical neglect or even negligent homicide.
I am appalled, but not stunned. The Chicago Police and Cook County Sheriff as well as Cook County jail staff are just as bad. I am a victim of unlawful arrest, unlawful incarceration and medical neglect and abuse. I am lucky to be alive.
Hearings should be held in Congress and every state legislature about such cases which are far too common. Any officer or paramedic who fails to intervene and attempt to save a life, or attempt to at least keep a person breathing should be fired. There is no excuse for every officer on the scene and every paramedic on the scene not rapidly intervening. They are all trained in CPR and how to recognize when someone is unconscious or not breathing. Apparently they are either prejudiced, incompetent, or inadequately trained. I cannot rule out that the medical neglect was intentional on the part of some of the officers.
See:
http://illinoiscorruption.blogspot.com/2012/01/torture-of-dr-linda-shelton-in-illinois.html
http://cookcountyjudges.wordpress.com
http://cookcountysheriffdeputies.wordpress.com
Dr Linda Shelton 