No Indictment For Mississippi Cop Who Fatally Strangled Innocent, Unarmed Man

Police officer Kevin Herrington killed Jonathan Sanders, but putting him in a chokehold for over 20 minutes while he screamed, “I can’t breathe.” That much isn’t up for discussion. Officer Herrington acknowledges and admits that he did this. The only question is, why did a grand jury in Clarke County, Mississippi decide not to charge him in the death of Jonathan Sanders?

Sanders was innocent and absolutely unarmed when he was placed in a chokehold by officer Kevin Herrington.

The Clarion-Ledger says that police claim Herrington “had reasonable suspicion” to believe that Sanders was involved with “drug activity.”

Herrington claimed that the bizarre degree of excessive force was justifiable and warranted for the arrest.

This all took place when Sanders said something unspecified to Officer Herrington while he was pulling over someone who the officer claimed was drunk. It remains to be scene whether that allegation was true, and it has not been disclosed what Sanders allegedly said.

What happened next? Witnesses claim that Officer Herrington yelled “I’m going to get that n*****,” and put him in a chokehold for over twenty minutes.

The attorney for the Sanders family, Chokwe Lumumba, said in an interview with The Guardian:

“Witness 1 saw officer Herrington’s blue lights come on,” Lumumba said. “Jonathan’s horse reared up, startled, and knocked Jonathan off his horse. His light slipped around his neck. Jonathan ran to get the horse and Officer Herrington came from behind him, yanked him down to the ground in front of the house with the light strap and placed him in a chokehold. Jonathan didn’t even see him.”

“I never saw him go for the officer,” Witness 1, said. Witnesses 2 and 3, also corroborated this account, according to the attorneys for the family. “They said Herrington held Sanders face-down on the ground and placed his arms around Sanders’ neck to restrain him,” The Guardian reported.

Witness 3, is from a law enforcement background. They told investigators that he ran towards Officer Herrington and said “‘Let him up; he won’t be able to breathe in my grass because my grass is too high,’” Lumumba explained. Witness 2, also said she then heard Sanders say “I can’t breathe” twice.

After administrators sat Sanders upright, blood rushed out of his mouth, according to The Guardian. His death was ruled a homicide, according to the medical examiner, the 39-year-old died from manual asphyxiation – being choked to death.

So why did the grand jury just let this cop walk? And why did they attempt to discredited claims that the police officer used racial slurs throughout the encounter – indicating a hatred of Sanders without even knowing him?

Source: http://truthfight.com/no-indictment-mississippi-cop-fatally-strangled-innocent-unarmed-man/

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Filming Cops
Filming Cops 5618 posts

Filming Cops was started in 2010 as a conglomerative blogging service documenting police abuse. The aim isn’t to demonize the natural concept of security provision as such, but to highlight specific cases of State-monopolized police brutality that are otherwise ignored by traditional media outlets.

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