A white police officer mounted a black teenager in Texas, who was being choked by her body weight and yelling “I can’t breathe” all this to apparently prevent her from committing suicide.
Texas cop stands over black teen as she screams ‘I can’t breathe’
Nekia Trigg, 18, received a 911 call Tuesday after she was spotted in a Forney, TX neighborhood engaging in what witnesses apparently thought was suicidal behavior, i.e., allegedly walking in front of cars in what some took to be attempts at self-evaluation.
A Kaufman County Sheriff’s deputy reportedly showed up shortly thereafter, and appears to have physically intervened after Nekia’s family members showed up at the scene and began recording a 7+ minute chaotic episode with the officers.
As the clip begins, you can see Nekia pinned to the ground by the officer, identified as Officer Conner Martin, who literally straddles her and holds her arms above her head.
She desperately screams for help and screams that she is short of breath and appears to be vomiting or foaming at the mouth throughout the ordeal.
Nekia’s family pleads with the officer, as well as others who appear not long after, to let her up and they can handle things but the police insist on handcuffing her to make sure she is okay, as they clearly believe she is suicidal, saying the word a few different times.
The family disputes the characterization of what Nekia was doing from the beginning, insisting she was simply crossing the street, though the body cam footage released by the Kaufman County Sheriff gives context of what happened earlier, and Nekia does in fact appear distressed by the situation.
Anyway, they eventually lift Nekia up and begin escorting her to a police patrol car at which point her mother intervenes and appears to get physical with some of the cops as well.
The cops end up restraining her as well, and eventually arrest her for assault on a public servant, among other charges so says the woman’s other daughter.
Nekia ended up being taken to a hospital for psychiatric evaluation.
The officer in question is on administrative leave while the department investigates, but in their press release about this they state that several calls came in reporting the same thing: that Nekia was clearly trying to hurt or kill herself by jumping into oncoming traffic.
