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Jackson police officer is placed on leave after video emerges showing him ‘choking’ a suspect as onlookers yell ‘he can’t breathe’

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Patrolman Myron Smith of JPD was caught in a video showing him with his hands wrapped around a suspect’s neck outside a beauty saloon in Jackson, Mississippi
In video that circulated online from May 22, Smith who is Black, is seen pinning a young man against a car as he cop yells: ‘I asked you to leave. What did you do?’
At one point officer Smith shouts at the suspect, a young Blackman: ‘Make me. Make me. I said make me’  but it’s unclear what he’d suggesting he’ll do
When a 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’
A female voice yells, “he can’t breathe, he is not able to breathe, he is shaking sir, he can’t breathe,”
 “Ma’am, do you see my hands? I am not even choking him” Smith responds, as he continued to hold the suspect down
Patrolman Smith has been placed on administrative leave pending investigation, JPD said
Myron Smith 1Jackson police officer is caught with his hands around suspect’s throat: In a video that circulated online from May 22, Patrolman Myron Smith is seen with his hands around a suspect’s neck.

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?’
Patrolman Myron Smith is seen placing his hands around a suspect’s neck in video that circulated online from May 22. The video was filmed outside the Beauty Zone and 88 Cent stores on Bailey Road in Jackson.
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.

Myron Smith 2

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.

Myron Smith 3They have a short struggle and the suspect gestures toward his throat as onlookers yell: ‘He’s not breathing’

They have a short struggle and the suspect gestures toward his throat as onlookers yell: ‘He’s not breathing’.
In the
video which lasted about two minutes, the woman can be seen attempting to push the officer’s hands off the young man, with Smith not treating that act kindly. He shouted at her, saying: “Get off me, get off me, I say get off me.”
At this point another woman yells, “he can’t breathe, he is not able to breathe, he is shaking sir, he can’t breathe,” Smith responded, “Ma’am, do you see my hands? I am not even choking him” as he continued to hold him down on the black Toyota.
The officer was later identified as patrol man Myron Smith. He has been placed on administrative leave pending investigation.
Police Chief James Davis told the Clarion Ledger ‘they were in a struggle, a scuffle’
and the officer involved has been placed on administrative leave.
The department is conducting an internal investigation into the incident, but 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.

Chokwe Antar Lumumba [left], and james davis [right] 1Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba [left], said any actions that do not reflect their principles of building public safety on trust ‘have no place in the City of Jackson’, while Chief James Davis [right] said Smith has been placed on administrative leave.
‘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.’

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