Jackson cop put on leave after video shows him with hands around neck of suspect who ‘can’t breathe’

A shocking video shows the moment a Mississippi police officer taunts a young man while wrapping his hands around his neck and onlookers desperate try to get him to stop.

In the footage from 4.30pm on Friday, a woman standing nearby is heard pleading with the officer to let go, saying: ‘He’s not breathing. He’s not breathing.’

The Jackson Police Department officer in the clip was placed on administrative leave Monday after the incident circulated on social media. Public information officer Sam Brown said the patrol man’s name is Myron Smith, the Jackson Free Press reported.

The video was filmed outside the Beauty Zone and 88 Cent stores on Bailey Road in Jackson.

It’s unclear what sparked the action from the law enforcement officer but he is later heard saying to him: ‘I asked you to leave. What did you do?’

A police vehicle is parked behind the car.

Footage recorded from a witness positioned further away in his car shows the cop pinning the man up against a vehicle while tauntingly yelling in his face: ‘Make me. Make me. I said make me.’

The suspect is seen struggling to free his neck as the officer grabs his head and bends him over. It is not clear what is going on as the vehicle is obstructing the view.

But the amateur videographer then walks up close to the action where a woman waiting close by puts her hand on the officer to try to loosen his hand. But he repeatedly yells at her: ‘Get off me! I said get off me!’

‘I’m not even choking him, ‘he adds. 

The clip shows the young man pinned up against a car as the cop yells: ‘I asked you to leave. What did you do?’ It’s unclear what happened beforehand

Another woman is heard yelling from afar: ‘He’s shaking sir! He can’t breathe.’ 

The young suspect is seen pointing at his throat several times.

But the officer says: ‘My hands are not even on your throat’. 

At this point his fingers are on the back of his neck and at least one of his thumbs pressed into the suspect’s jaw.

The officer continues: ‘You’re trying to get bad with me?… I’m not the one.’

He then tells onlookers to ‘leave’ and ‘go on about your business’ before the recording ends.

It’s unclear whether the man was resisting at any point during the encounter but JPD Chief James Davis told the Clarion Ledger ‘they were in a struggle, a scuffle’.

They have a short struggle and the suspect gestures toward his throat as onlookers yell: ‘He’s not breathing’. The officer has been placed on administrative leave pending investigation

The department is conducting an internal investigation into the incident. The suspect has not been identified by police.

No arrest was made during the incident however a report was written up, the chief said.

The department is not jailing misdemeanor suspects due to the coronavirus outbreak.

‘After being made aware of a video that has surfaced of a Jackson police officer in a confrontation with an individual, the officer involved has been placed under administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal affairs investigation,’ Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba said in a statement about the video.

‘This administration is clear that we are trying to build an approach to public safety that is about trust, collaboration, and integrity. Any actions that do not reflect those principles have no place in the City of Jackson.’

Chief James Davis (left) said ‘they were in a struggle, a scuffle’ and the cop has been placed on administrative leave. Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba (right) said any actions that do not reflect their principles of building public safety on trust ‘have no place in the City of Jackson’