Jonathan Sanders: Final Farewell To Miss. Man Killed By Cop | The Michigan

Attorneys for family of Jonathan Sanders say state medical examiners found he died from homicide by manual asphyxiation.

For many African Americans in Stonewall, a community of fewer than 1,100-a quarter of whom are black and knit closely through family ties and generational bonds to the town-the only acceptable form of justice would be for Herrington to be charged, indicted, tried and imprisoned for Sanders’ murder.

The Mississippi Bureau of Investigations is now investigating Sanders’ death, which happened nearly one year after the police chokehold death of 43-year-old Eric Garner.

Witnesses, who are related to Sanders and saw the incident, say Herrington allegedly put him in a choke hold.

Clarke County District Attorney Bilbo Mitchell has said the case, like other deaths where a police officer is involved, will be presented to a grand jury.

The family of a Chicago-area woman found dead in a Texas jail cell last week is ordering an independent autopsy, their lawyer says.

According to three witnesses, all of whom are related to Sanders by marriage, the interaction began when Sanders passed the cop while riding his horse-drawn buggy. But Kayla Clark and Charita Kennedy, the mothers of Sanders’ 9-month-old son and 1-year-old daughter, thanked the crowd and asked town residents to keep supporting the family.

The autopsy finding doesn’t necessarily mean Herrington committed a crime and accounts so far leave unanswered questions: What triggered the encounter? According to witnesses, Herrington held Sanders in a chokehold for 20 minutes while Sanders yelled that he “couldn’t breathe”.

Bill Ready Jr., an attorney representing Herrington, has claimed that Sanders not only had what appeared to be illegal drugs, but that he attempted to grab his client’s gun during the struggle.

Stonewall police don’t have dashcams or body cameras, so there’s no video of the incident. He was convicted in December 2003 for selling cocaine and went to prison until May 2007.

The ACLU of Mississippi has issued a statement about the mysterious death of a 39-year-old black man who died after an alleged fight with a police officer in Stonewall. “I think we need to all wait until MBI finishes its investigation”.

Enterprise Police Chief Joey Moulds said Herrington is a conscientious officer who kept on good terms with people – even after he’d written them citations.

Speaking at Sanders’ funeral, Attorney Lumumba offered encouragement to the family, saying, “We’re all the Lord’s vehicles, so we can’t get mad at Him when He calls home what is rightfully His”.

Friends of Sanders describe him as a horse-lover who made a living buying, training and selling the animals.