Not taking up for him, but don’t forget that the back seat of most squad cars is a little bit different, like cadged, doors locked, etc.
I am sure some people would feel suffocated.
The one and only time I rode in the back of a squad car, it was smaller than freaking airline seating. My knees were painfully jammed into the caging and I couldn’t turn side ways because there were 3 of us on the bench seat. We were being transported to a motel after a boulder fell out of a cliff and tore the engine out of my mom van, I kid you not.
When it’s not your day to die... you don’t.