California to pay $24M for man's death in police custody

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

California to pay $24M for man’s death in police custody

May 9, 2023

LOS ANGELES (AP) — California will pay a $24 million civil rights settlement to the family of a man who died in police custody after screaming “I can’t breathe” as multiple officers restrained him while trying to take a blood sample, lawyers said Tuesday.

Seven California Highway Patrol officers and a nurse were charged with involuntary manslaughter earlier this year in connection with the 2020 death of Edward Bronstein, age 38.

Annee Della Donna and Eric Dubin, attorneys for Bronstein’s young children, said it’s the largest civil rights settlement of its kind by the state of California, and the second largest nationally since the city of Minneapolis paid $27 million in the George Floyd case. The attorneys scheduled a news conference in Los Angeles for Wednesday to provide details.

The settlement comes amid renewed scrutiny of potentially fatal restraints following last week’s death of a New York City subway rider, Jordan Neely, who was placed in a chokehold by a U.S. Marine veteran. Bronstein’s death also echoes that of Eric Garner, a New Yorker put in a chokehold by police in 2014 and whose dying words “I can’t breathe” became a chant in protests against racial injustice. Both Garner and Neely were Black.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/california-highway-patrol-police-custody-death-edward-bronstein-c07d84921cd09c8f576b877b5f133d79

[moniss]

1. It seems to be so hard to get

anybody in the media, when they have defenders of the hold on, to just say to them "It's called a choke-hold for a reason. You are choking the person and preventing them from breathing and having blood flow to their brain. If you hold it long enough they will die. Period end of sentence. No gray area. It is a lethal hold."

That video of Neely continuing to struggle while in the choke-hold is completely understandable that he would be struggling. He's trying to get free from someone who has physically attacked him and is choking him. The guy is not a cop and has no authority to restrain Neely with a choke-hold. The information we have makes it clear that it was a physical attack in response to angry words only. There was no weapon brandished etc. You don't get to use deadly force just because someone is yelling at you.