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Unarmed Black Man Allegedly Choked to Death by White Cop in Mississippi

© TheAdviseShowTVJonathan Sanders.
Jonathan Sanders. - Sputnik International
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Authorities are looking into a July 8 incident in Stonewall, Mississippi, involving a white police officer whose chokehold on a 39-year-old unarmed African-American that lasted more than 20 minutes led to the suspect's death.

One witness recalls officer Kevin Herrington saying he was "going to get that n*gger," before attacking Jonathan Sanders, who repeatedly told Harrington he couldn't breathe and was denied CPR, according to Sanders' family's attorneys.

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Chokwe Lumumba and CJ Lawrence, the lawyers representing victim's family, said the state medical examiner's autopsy preliminarily concluded that Sanders died through homicide by manual asphyxiation. However, spokesman for the Mississippi department of public safety Warren Strain hesitated to confirm the statement.

The case is now being handled by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation (MBI). Three witnesses to the incident separately gave the MBI matching accounts of what happened, the lawyers said.

According to the unidentified witnesses' version of events, Sanders, who was riding on a horse-drawn buggy, was confronted by the officer at about 10:30 PM at a gas station. He was training one of his horses when he saw Herrington pull over one of Sanders' relatives.

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As witnesses recall, Herrington then followed Sanders in his cruiser and turned on his siren lights, which scared Sanders' horse. Thrown to the ground, Sanders ran after his horse, at which point the officer approached him from behind, yanked him to the ground and placed him in a chokehold that lasted no less than 20 minutes. Several media reports attest that Herrington strangled Sanders with a head-mounted light the victim was wearing, but Stonewall Police Chief Michael Street has denied those allegations.

Even though one of the witnesses was trained in CPR and offered help, the officer told him to "stand back."

Herrington claims Sanders was reaching for the officer's gun, The Guardian reported.

Medics and backup were eventually called, and Sanders was taken to hospital, but the family's attorneys say that by the time help arrived Sanders was already dead.

"We believe there is probable cause for a prosecution," Lawrence said in an interview on Wednesday. "A determination should now be made by a jury at an open trial as to whether officer Herrington had any justification for choking Jonathan Sanders to death."

Over the weekend, more than 400 people attended a march for Sanders in Stonewall to demand justice, the Meridian Star reported.

 

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