Frank Tyson’s final words were “I can’t breathe.” Tyson, a black man from Ohio who had just been released from prison, died at the hands of police officers in Canton, Ohio. The officers came to arrest him for a suspected traffic violation, and after pinning him to the floor and handcuffing him in a bar, Tyson passed away. The state prosecutor’s office is investigating the case, and the two white police officers involved have been relieved of duty temporarily.
The events leading up to Tyson’s death were captured on the police department’s body camera. Despite efforts to revive him and administer naloxone, a drug used in opioid overdose cases, Tyson was pronounced dead at the hospital less than an hour after his arrest. His last words, “I can’t breathe,” echo the tragic death of George Floyd in Minneapolis four years ago, which sparked nationwide protests and reignited the Black Lives Matter movement.
Tyson had crashed his car into a lamp post before being found in a bar by police officers. In a video of the arrest, Tyson can be heard screaming for help and saying he can’t breathe as an officer kneels on his back. The resuscitation attempt began after five minutes of restraining Tyson. A report by the Associated Press revealed that over a thousand people have died in custody in the US as a result of police actions that were not intended to be lethal.
Since being released from prison on April 6, Tyson had failed to fulfill his obligations to register, according to parole authorities. The tragic incident has once again raised concerns about police brutality and the treatment of black individuals in the criminal justice system.