A man selling cold bottled water to thirsty tourists on a triple-digit summer day in Las Vegas was placed in a chokehold by Las Vegas police who apparently were cracking down on unlicensed street vendors.
“I can’t breathe” the man wheezes as one cop tightens the chokehold around his neck. But the cop only tells him to “quit resisting.”
“Saying he is resisting won’t make him be resisting,” says a witness as the cops continues repeating the mindless phrase.
“We’re watching you.”
The man does not resist throughout the video but the cops continue to tell him not to resist.
“You’re the only one that committed a crime,” another witness tells the cops.
The video was posted to Facebook Friday with the following description:
This video is someone I know. Jimmy Williams was exercising his right to support himself and/or his family. He was selling water in Las Vegas on a hot day. Do you still think you are free? Do you still think Police are your friends? This is what promoters, water sellers, smut peddlers etc go through everyday on the Las Vegas Strip trying to make a living and trying to put smiles on peoples faces. You have the right to pursue happiness. Whatever that is do it as long as ye harm no one. The police are nothing but a domestic terrorist organization. More people need to wake up. Its not easy. Waking up is hard to do especially when you have been indoctrinated. Rebirth is relearning what you have been taught. Life is not butterflies and crayons. Its not going to be pretty. Its going to a long lonely road but I for one would rather die standing up than to comply. Tis better to burn out than it is to fade cause rust never sleeps.
“They need to train these guys,” one woman exclaims but the video shows they are doing exactly as they are trained. From the chokehold to the knee on the back, they are only trained in how to control people whether they need to be controlled or not.
The video ends with the handcuffed man laying face down in a puddle of water from his own cooler yelling out his phone number to notify his friends or family that he has been arrested.
UPDATE: Fox 5 News reported on Monday that the incident actually took place in 2013 but it resurfaced after it was posted on Facebook last week.
After the video resurfaced, the original poster on Facebook updated the caption to note it happened in 2013.
Las Vegas police on Monday said the video was fully investigated by internal affairs and the investigation “showed no policy violations occurred.”
Police also said the man in the video filed a lawsuit against the department and the lawsuit was dismissed by the courts.
“Please note per Clark County Code 6.04.130 it is illegal to sell any merchandise, goods, items, wares or services on any portion of a public right-of-way. The officers involved in this incident were conducting a lawful investigation of an individual selling items on a portion of a public right-of way,” the department wrote in the emailed statement.
Police did not release the man’s name.