[EDINVA]

What an absurd comment! BUT when he was saying he couldn’t breathe, he obviously was breathing or he couldn’t talk, much less yell. Or have you never been unable to breathe? Or in the company of one who truly can’t breathe?

The man was a good 150-200 lbs overweight, with a slew of medical conditions. He looked like he was 3-4X the size of the initial cop who tried to arrest him. He made a stupid, fatal decision. Or several if you want to go back to deciding to sell cigarettes illegally, however outrageous the NYC tax may be.

[TigersEye]

Not as stupid as saying he "if he can talk he can breath." So he had 25% of his breathing capacity left, enough to choke out "I can't breath," I suppose he should have used what little breath he did have, to be perfectly accurate for all the anal retentive geeks out there, to say "I only have 25% of my breathing capacity left, sir, could you please let me get some air?"

Anyone who has had an asthma attack can tell you that they can still get out a few words but they would still describe their problem as "I can't breath."

[FreeInWV]

I have a question for ya. Suppose my law abiding friend Jamal is walking home from work one night when he passes a bar. Out stumbles a 350 lb drunken off duty cop who for no reason whatsoever strikes him in the face and threatens to rip his head off. They scuffle. Fearing for his life, Jamal gets the off duty officer in a choke hold. The officer says “I cant breathe!” a few times and dies of asthma, heart attack or whatever. Jamal is shocked because he wasn’t even holding him that tight.

What will happen to Jamal? Think they will fail to indict him for murder? Will anyone care that the cop was overweight and had asthma?