One black man identified as Frank Tyson, aged 53, died after being immobilized by police in the city of Canton, Ohio, in the United States. While handcuffed in custody, with an officer resting his knee on his neck, he says several times, “I can’t breathe.” The action was recorded by the body camera of one of the police officers. The case occurred on April 18th, but was only reported last Thursday (25th).
In the images, Tyson appears being placed against the ground, while he is handcuffed and states: “they are trying to kill me”. According to information from the TV channel CBS, the police officers were seen talking, jokingly, after immobilizing the man. Five minutes later, one of them asks if Tyson has “calmed down” and the other responds: “he must have passed out.”
After a few more minutes, the agents realize that the detained man is not responding. Soon after, one of the police officers says that they need to call a medical team because he can’t feel Tyson’s pulse.
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Still according to the CBS, The agents performed cardiac massage and Tyson was taken to the hospital, but he did not survive and was declared dead less than an hour after arriving at the emergency room.
In a statement, the Canton Police Department reported that, “shortly after the arrest”, the officers “noticed that Tyson became unresponsive”, and that they also administered doses of naxolone, a medicine used for respiratory depression and/or central nervous system depression. , before the emergency arrives.
Occurrence
The North American press reported that the police were called to a call for car accident. When they arrived at the scene, the agents only saw a car involved in the accident, without a driver, and a witness pointed to a bar where the person responsible was possibly located.
According to CBS, Frank Tyson had been released from prison on April 6, after spending 24 years in prison for involvement in a kidnapping and robbery case. He was reportedly almost immediately placed on a list of probation violators for failing to report to a probation officer.
Black Lives Matter
This is not the first similar case in the United States. In 2014, the black man Eric Garner also died after being detained and immobilized by police officers in New York.
Another famous case happened in 2020, which motivated a new wave of protests around the world. George Floyd was asphyxiated and killed by a white police officer during a traffic stop in Minneapolis. The English phrase, “I can’t breathe” (I can’t breathe, in English), became the slogan of movements against police abuse of the black population, such as Black Lives Matter.
