“I can not breathe”. History repeats itself in the USA and man dies minutes after being handcuffed by police

When he was approached by agents to be removed from the bar where he was, Frank Tyson hesitated to follow the agents: “No! You are going to kill me!”

A black man died in the city of Canton, in the US state of Ohio, minutes after being handcuffed by police. According to the CBS television channel, the case happened on April 18, but it was only now made public, after body camera footage of one of the agents was released.

The history of George Floyd, in 2020, appears to have been repeated in the case of Frank Tyson, aged 53. Like Floyd, Tyson also shouted “I can’t breathe” when one of the officers’ knees were pressing on his neck.

In body camera video of one of the officers, released Thursday by the Canton Police Department, officers can be seen approaching the man at a bar and him responding, “No! You are going to kill me!” The information about the reason for the police approach is contradictory: some media say that Tyson was suspected of leaving the scene of an accident and others say that the police were called by the bar’s employees, as Tyson refused to leave. the establishment.

After being immobilized by the police, one of the officers can be seen kneeling on Frank Tyson’s back near his neck and the man can be heard shouting: “I can’t breathe, you’re on my neck! I can’t breathe! “. An agent can also be heard telling him “calm down, you’re fine”.

The video, which is more than 30 minutes long, then shows Tyson motionless, face down on the floor, while police officers talk to bar customers. It takes about six minutes before agents check Tyson’s condition, who appears to be unresponsive. Officers can be heard asking: “Is he breathing?”, “Does he have a pulse?”.

Eight minutes after handcuffing him, officers remove the handcuffs and begin resuscitation. After that, the emergency services arrive and the paramedics take Tyson out of the bar on a stretcher and take him to an ambulance.

According to NBC, Tyson later died at a local hospital. Frank Tyson had left prison less than two weeks earlier, where he had served a 24-year sentence for kidnapping.

The agents involved in the incident were placed on administrative leave, without salary suspension. The Ohio police chief said an autopsy was performed, the results of which are awaited.