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.
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.
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.
Just spoke w/ family of #JonathanSanders He died on the farm before medics arrived after police choked him to death pic.twitter.com/RgYCknWyJ5
— Shaun King (@ShaunKing) July 10, 2015
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.