'I can't breathe': Video shows Black man pinned by Everett cop
EVERETT — The day before George Floyd was killed by police in Minnesota, an Everett sergeant knelt on the back of a Black man for about 14 seconds as the man cried three times, “I can’t breathe.”
Police Chief Dan Templeman said the technique used to arrest Joseph Michael Hill, 39, was within city policy, a textbook example of a reasonable use of force and a speedy reaction to Hill’s pleas.
Hill’s attorney, Maxwell Mensinger, disagreed. He said it was an unnecessary use of potentially deadly force by an officer when Hill had already surrendered at the end of a foot chase and was face down on his stomach with his hands behind his back.
The arrest was captured by at least two officers’ body-worn cameras, under a new program Everett police expect to expand in coming months. The sergeant faced no discipline for his handling of the domestic violence suspect early on May 24.
Yet the incident, as well as Floyd’s death, led the Everett Police Department to revise a policy manual advising officers when and how to use force that impedes a person’s breathing, codifying a practice to move a restrained person into a position where it is easier to breathe “at the earliest safe opportunity.”
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