[wideawake]

It's basic common sense, isn't it? If you can't breathe, you can't talk.

Another piece of basic common sense: if you are a morbidly obese sack of crap surrounded by five police officers who want to arrest you, you should probably go along quietly rather than try to fight your way out of it.

What did Garner think he was going to do? Knock 5 cops out? Break through the perimeter and speed waddle his way into hiding?

[Uncle Chip]

Wrong —

Any air in your lungs at the time allows you to talk but when the air runs out you need to inhale.

When someone is sitting on you preventing your diaphragm from expanding and squeezing your windpipe, inhaling to fill your lungs again becomes a little difficult.

Watch the tape — his last words were I can’t breathe — and the autopsy showed that he was right.