A2 August 13, 2020
The Chronicle
Body camera footage raises more questions than answers
BY TEVIN STINSON
THE CHRONICLE
I’m not sure what I was
expecting when I watched
the body camera footage,
but I do know after watch
ing John Neville tell sworn
officers of the law and a
registered nurse nearly 30
times “I can’t breathe,” I
have more questions now
then I had before. Why is
it OK to put a man in a
restraint chair after he suf
fered a seizure? Did it take
five officers to handle a
56-year-old man who just
had a seizure? Why would
you leave a man hogtied
face down on a mattress
after he appears to be un
responsive?
The videos released
last week shows what hap
pened the morning of Dec.
2, 2019, after Neville fell
from the top bunk onto the
floor of his cell in the For
syth County Jail. The foot
age begins with the nurse
kneeling next to Neville
who is lying on his back
and is unresponsive.
While kneeling, the
nurse tells Neville “It’s
OK” and “You’re OK”
several times before he
seems to regain conscious
ness. At which point the
nurse tells Neville “It
looks like you had a sei
zure.” As the nurse tries to
check his blood pressure,
Neville tries to get up. An
officer tells Neville he’s
having a medical issue and
tells him to calm down
several times, while other
officers tried to stop him
from getting up as well.
As he fights to get up Nev
ille yells “Let me up” and
“Help me” several times.
After struggling to
keep Neville restrained
for about two minutes, an
officer can be heard say
ing “He’s trying to bite,”
(which I never saw) and
requests a transport/re-
straint chair. A few sec
onds later, the group of
officers turn Neville on
his stomach, handcuff his
Photo by Tevin Stinson
Demonstrators march through the street demanding justice for John Neville.
hands behind his back, and
put a white cloth over his
head commonly used to
stop inmates from spitting
or biting.
Once he’s handcuffed,
Neville is moved to the
restraint chair and trans
ported to an observation
cell, where he was placed
faced down on a mattress.
While still being restrained
by four other officers with
the Forsyth County Sher
iff’s Office, another officer
tries to remove the hand
cuffs when Neville begins
crying out for help.
Combined, Neville told
officers “Help me” and “I
can’t breathe” more than
50 times. In response, of
ficers tell Neville to relax.
At one point one officer
can be heard saying “Ifyou
can talk, you can breathe,”
and at another point “You
can breathe because you’re
talking, you’re yelling and
you’re moving.” At some
point, the key to remove
the handcuffs breaks and
an officer requests bolt
cutters as Neville’s voice
begins to fade.
By the time the bolt
cutters are brought in, Nev
ille is already not moving.
After the bolt cutters don’t
work, an officer asks every
officer in the cell who is
still restraining Neville by
holding his legs, “Are you
OK?” but doesn’t even
recognize the man who
has been crying for help
for the last 10 minutes
and who isn’t even mov
ing anymore. One officer
even found time to make a
joke about who would pay
for the cost of the broken
handcuffs.
Officers don’t say any
thing else to Neville until
after the bolt cutters don’t
work and he lets out a
moan of distress, at which
point an officer asks “Can
you hear me John?” It
takes officers nearly anoth
er five minutes to remove
the handcuffs.
Before leaving the cell,
officers ultimately hogtied
Neville with his face down
on the mattress, his hands
cuffed behind his back and
his legs folded at the knee
toward his wrists. A few
minutes later the nurse,
who was watching Neville
from outside the cell, lets
officers know that he isn’t
breathing and they return
to the cell to remove the
handcuffs and perform
CPR.
Neville died the next
day at Wake Forest Bap
tist Medical Center. The
autopsy conducted by Dr.
Patrick Lantz of Wake For
est Baptist Medical Center
shows Neville died from
“complications of Hypox
ic-Ischemic brain injury
due to cardiopulmonary
arrest due to positional and
compressional asphyxia”
sustained while he was in
the “prone restraint.”
There are so many un
answered questions:
*Why did they feel it
was OK to leave a man
hogtied, face down on a
mattress, after he appeared
to be unresponsive?
*How often do hand
cuff keys break?
*Why did it take so
long for officers to find
bolt cutters that worked?
*When was emergency
personnel called?
*Should the charges be
upgraded?
*What took so long for
charges to be filed any
way?
*And the most impor
tant question: Why does
this continue to happen to
Black men?
Sarah Poole, Cpl. Ed
ward Roussel, Lovette
Williams, Christopher
Stamper, Antonio Wood
ley and Michelle Heugh-
ins, the five officers and
the on-call nurse that night,
have been charged with
involuntary manslaughter
and will appear in court.
But honestly, I don’t
think we’ll ever know why
John Neville had to be
added to the ever-growing
list of unarmed Black men
dying at the hands of law
enforcement.
The founder and CEO of BlackJobs.com
says more than 500 employers
nationwide are genuinely looking to hire
more African Americans.
Have a
Story Idea?
Nationwide (Black-
News.com) - The national
Black unemployment rate
is as high as 15% accord
ing to Forbes compared to
just 11% for the rest of the
nation. However, accord
ing to Dante Lee, founder
and CEO of the company
that produces BlackJobs.
com, many African Ameri
cans remain unemployed
because they are simply
not applying for jobs and
are missing out on lucra
tive job opportunities
with Fortune 500 and other
reputable companies.
Lee’s platform, Black-
Jobs.com, is a very popu
lar and reputable online
job board that connects
employers dedicated to
diversity hiring with quali
fied African American
candidates nationwide, but
Lee says that many African
Americans are simply not
applying for the jobs.
“I am currently work
ing with more than 500
employers across the coun
try. All of them are actively
hiring and all of them want
to be more inclusive in
their hiring,” Lee says.
“However,” he contin
ues, “one thing that I can
confirm for sure is that
many unemployed African
Americans are simply not
Let Us Know!
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applying for the jobs. Oth
ers are not following basic
instructions such as includ
ing cover letters. These are
the biggest complaints that
we get from our employ
ers.”
The average job on
BlackJobs.com has an
annual pay of $55,000
to $75,000 or more, but
some pay six figures and
have benefits with incen
tive packages. The web
site lists mostly corporate-
level positions working for
well-known brands such as
Amazon, Krispy Kreme,
Tommy Bahama, Cascade
AIDS Project, Albourne
America, DocuSign, Coca-
Cola, Ovia Health, Euro
pean Wax Center, NetApp,
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tual, Quartet Health, Goose
Island Beer Company,
WordPress VIP, Ergobaby,
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and hundreds more.
The web site also lists
lucrative job opportunities
working for city and state
governments around the
country, non-profit organi
zations such as the Susan
G. Komen Foundation, the
Bezos Family Foundation,
and Doctors Without Bor
ders, and even prestigious
universities such as Stan ¬
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ford University and MIT.
“These employers are
genuinely interested in hir
ing more African Ameri
cans, but we are not fully
taking advantage of the
opportunities,” Lee says.
“I’ve been quiet long
enough about this. Now,
I’m speaking up.”
Those interested in re
ceiving free job alerts can
easily sign up by pairing
with their LinkedIn ac
count. Another option is to
just browse the job oppor
tunities listed by visiting
the BlackJobs.com direct
ly. The site is 100% free to
use for job seekers.
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