Not necessarily about the manslaughter, but he said that as part of the use of force SOP, for a small-town police department (2 square miles, 4,000 residents) that is hardly up to its neck in violent arrests, they have specific rules about making sure a handcuffed suspect can breathe properly. Once he's in cuffs, they are supposed to turn him right over. The grip around Garner's neck is not actually a choke-hold, it is a neck grab. It is a hold, used to bring him to the ground, not to choke him into submission. According to the Lt., they should not have been kneeling on his head or chest as long as they did.

But this is exactly the point I am making. These idiots all focus on the wrong things, and take up indefensible positions, and thus taint the arguments against police use of force. When cops are being accused of bullshit and told actions they know were not the cause of death are murderous, they and their supporters are going to get defensive, and not going to listen to the real issues. Absolutely no one has brought this up, instead choosing to emphasize the so-called choke-hold, in which the cop had one of his arms under the subject's armpit. That's not how you choke someone.