Authorities in the US are investigating an incident in which a Black man was choked to death when a Minneapolis police officer used his knee to put pressure on the man’s neck while being apprehended on Monday evening (May 25).
The man, who was later identified as George Floyd was taken to hospital where he died shortly afterwards.
The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports that police were called to investigate an alleged forgery and saw a man fitting the description of the suspect in his car.
Police told the newspaper that the man was at first compliant, but then resisted and officers used force to apprehend him.
This is until they realized he was in “medical distress” and an ambulance was called. Police were wearing body cameras at the time.
A video taken by a bystander shows one of the arresting officers pinning the man down to the ground while using his hands and knee on Floyd’s neck to hold him in place, apparently constricting his breathing and causing him to gasp for air.
“Please, please, please I can’t breathe. Please, man,” he begs.
Bystanders vocally protest the officer’s methods for several minutes until the man stops gasping.