Bermuda Post

Monday, Mar 18, 2024

Bodycam Video Of A Black Man Repeatedly Telling Corrections Officers "I Can't Breathe" Before He Died Has Been Released

Bodycam Video Of A Black Man Repeatedly Telling Corrections Officers "I Can't Breathe" Before He Died Has Been Released

John Neville, 56, told officers in the North Carolina jail that he couldn't breathe more than 20 times while they restrained him during a medical episode. He died in a hospital two days later.

A judge authorized the release of body camera footage this week showing officers in a North Carolina jail restraining a 56-year-old Black man as he repeatedly says "I can't breathe" before losing consciousness and later dying.

In the footage, John Neville can be heard repeatedly telling officers in Forsyth County Detention Center in Winston-Salem that he was unable to breathe. He died two days later in hospital in December 2019.

Five detention officers were fired and a nurse was placed on administrative leave, ABC News reported. All six have been charged with involuntary manslaughter.

The release of the footage, months after the incident took place, came as a result of legal petitions from various news organizations. (The video below is graphic.)



Two separate clips have been released, and they show a special response team attending to Neville who was found on the floor by his cellmate, experiencing a medical episode with vomit on his clothing and blood around his mouth. He had apparently fallen to the floor from the top bunk of the bed.

“It looks like you had a seizure,” the attending nurse said.

Visibly disoriented, Neville didn’t respond when asked to confirm his last name, and after a period of silence struggled as officers continued to restrain him.

They placed a spit hood over his head, and Neville was wheeled in a chair to an observation room while handcuffed. He was then transferred to another cell where he was placed on a mat and held in a prone position - facedown - with his arms in handcuffs.

“Please, please, I can’t breathe, help me, help me, please,” pleaded Neville, who became distressed and told officers that he was unable to breathe more than 20 times. Instead, he was further restrained by officers who pulled his legs behind him.

“You’re breathing ‘cause you’re talking, you’re yelling and you’re moving. You need to stop. You need to relax, quit resisting us,” responded an officer who attempted to remove Neville’s handcuffs, but struggled because the key had broken off in the lock.

They resorted to using a bolt cutter to remove the handcuffs, and on the advice of someone not visible on camera, the officers released Neville’s legs “so he can breathe.”

With Neville in a prone position, officers can be heard exchanging jokes about the damage to the handcuffs.

“Whose cuffs were those? ... It’s coming out of your paycheck,” said one officer.

An extended period of silence from Neville prompted an officer to check in on him but he remained unresponsive.

“John you alright buddy? I promise we’re going to be done in a few minutes alright?” the officer said. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

When the cuffs were removed, the officers and nurse were unable to get a clear response from Neville and they all exited the cell, leaving him unattended for a moment, only to re-enter shortly after to clarify whether he was breathing.

The footage ends with the attending nurse performing chest compressions for CPR.

Neville, a father from Greensboro, North Carolina was arrested on Dec. 1 last year and held on an assault charge. The incident at the prison took place the following day and he died at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center two days later.

According to the autopsy, he died of a brain injury due to "positional and compressional asphyxia during prone restraint.”

In a press conference on Aug. 4, ahead of the footage being released, Sheriff Bobby F. Kimbrough issued an apology to Neville’s family and suggested renaming a housing unit at the Forsyth County Detention Center in his honor.

"I apologize again for what happened on that day," said Kimbrough, “We're sorry for the mistakes made that day. I take responsibility for that as the sheriff."

Kimbrough told reporters that the “tragic” footage had brought him to tears.

The details of Neville’s death were made public following an investigation by The News & Observer and underpin the most recent wave of nationwide protests set in motion by the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man who died after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes.

Along with calling for major police reform, the protests have ignited a reckoning over racial injustice across the country and in many industries.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Bermuda Post
0:00
0:00
Close
Paper straws found to contain long-lasting and potentially toxic chemicals - study
FTX's Bankman-Fried headed for jail after judge revokes bail
Blackrock gets half a trillion dollar deal to rebuild Ukraine
Steve Jobs' Son Launches Venture Capital Firm With $200 Million For Cancer Treatments
Israel: Unprecedented Civil Disobedience Looms as IDF Reservists Protest Judiciary Reform
Google reshuffles Assistant unit, lays off some staffers, to 'supercharge' products with A.I.
End of Viagra? FDA approved a gel against erectile dysfunction
UK sanctions Russians judges over dual British national Kara-Murza's trial
US restricts visa-free travel for Hungarian passport holders because of security concerns
America's First New Nuclear Reactor in Nearly Seven Years Begins Operations
Southeast Asia moves closer to economic unity with new regional payments system
Political leader from South Africa, Julius Malema, led violent racist chants at a massive rally on Saturday
Today Hunter Biden’s best friend and business associate, Devon Archer, testified that Joe Biden met in Georgetown with Russian Moscow Mayor's Wife Yelena Baturina who later paid Hunter Biden $3.5 million in so called “consulting fees”
Singapore Carries Out First Execution of a Woman in Two Decades Amid Capital Punishment Debate
Spanish Citizenship Granted to Iranian chess player who removed hijab
US Senate Republican Mitch McConnell freezes up, leaves press conference
Speaker McCarthy says the United States House of Representatives is getting ready to impeach Joe Biden.
San Francisco car crash
This camera man is a genius
3D ad in front of Burj Khalifa
Next level gaming
Google testing journalism AI. We are doing it already 2 years, and without Google biased propoganda and manipulated censorship
Unlike illegal imigrants coming by boats - US Citizens Will Need Visa To Travel To Europe in 2024
Musk announces Twitter name and logo change to X.com
'I just lost it' Lowe’s worker fired after 13 years of employment for confronting thieves trying to steal $2K of merchandise
The politician and the journalist lost control and started fighting on live broadcast.
The future of sports
Unveiling the Black Hole: The Mysterious Fate of EU's Aid to Ukraine
Farewell to a Music Titan: Tony Bennett, Renowned Jazz and Pop Vocalist, Passes Away at 96
Alarming Behavior Among Florida's Sharks Raises Concerns Over Possible Cocaine Exposure
Transgender Exclusion in Miss Italy Stirs Controversy Amidst Changing Global Beauty Pageant Landscape
Joe Biden admitted, in his own words, that he delivered what he promised in exchange for the $10 million bribe he received from the Ukraine Oil Company.
TikTok Takes On Spotify And Apple, Launches Own Music Service
Global Trend: Using Anti-Fake News Laws as Censorship Tools - A Deep Dive into Tunisia's Scenario
Arresting Putin During South African Visit Would Equate to War Declaration, Asserts President Ramaphosa
Hacktivist Collective Anonymous Launches 'Project Disclosure' to Unearth Information on UFOs and ETIs
Typo sends millions of US military emails to Russian ally Mali
Server Arrested For Theft After Refusing To Pay A Table's $100 Restaurant Bill When They Dined & Dashed
The Changing Face of Europe: How Mass Migration is Reshaping the Political Landscape
China Urges EU to Clarify Strategic Partnership Amid Trade Tensions
Europe is boiling: Extreme Weather Conditions Prevail Across the Continent
The Last Pour: Anchor Brewing, America's Pioneer Craft Brewer, Closes After 127 Years
Democracy not: EU's Digital Commissioner Considers Shutting Down Social Media Platforms Amid Social Unrest
Sarah Silverman and Renowned Authors Lodge Copyright Infringement Case Against OpenAI and Meta
Italian Court's Controversial Ruling on Sexual Harassment Ignites Uproar
Why Do Tech Executives Support Kennedy Jr.?
The New York Times Announces Closure of its Sports Section in Favor of The Athletic
BBC Anchor Huw Edwards Hospitalized Amid Child Sex Abuse Allegations, Family Confirms
Florida Attorney General requests Meta CEO's testimony on company's platforms' alleged facilitation of illicit activities
The Distorted Mirror of actual approval ratings: Examining the True Threat to Democracy Beyond the Persona of Putin
×