Mississippi Police Officer Placed On Leave After Holding Man by the Neck

A police officer in Jackson, Mississippi, has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation after eyewitness video from Friday, May 22, showed him wrapping his hands around a man’s neck.

This video, recorded by Eric Cooper, shows the interaction between officer Myron Smith, the young man, and passersby.

The circumstances leading up to the incident can bot be seen in the video; however, Smith can be seen pressing the man back against a car and is heard asking the man to leave the area. “Are you going to leave,” Smith says, and later, “When I told you to leave, what should you have done?”

A bystander can be heard telling Smith that the man “can’t breathe.” Smith then responds by saying, “Ma’am. You see my hands? I’m not even choking him.”

The man is released from the officers’ hold at the end of the video.

The man was not arrested as a local court was not hearing misdemeanor cases due to the coronavirus restrictions, according to a Clarion Ledger report citing Jackson Police Department Chief James Davis. Credit: Eric Cooper via Storyful