No charges in death of man who told cops he couldn’t breathe

May 31, 2015, 4:36 PM

SCOTT, La. (AP) — A grand jury has declined to indict Louisiana police officers who held a man down, with officers at on top of him, while he said, “I can’t breathe.”

The Advertiser (http://bit.ly/1eK1DxA ) also quotes the FBI as saying it did not find anything the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Unit could prosecute.

Thirty-year-old Robert Minjarez Jr. was declared dead five days after his arrest by Carencro and Scott police and Lafayette Parish sheriff’s deputies in March 2014.

The coroner’s report says the main cause of death was “compressional asphyxia due to face-down physical restraint by law enforcement officers.”

The report says several officers remained wholly or partly on top of Minjarez after his hands and legs were cuffed, and he repeatedly said he couldn’t breathe.

The grand jury met Wednesday.

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

United States News

Associated Press

Park outside: Hyundai, Kia recall vehicles due to fire risk

DETROIT (AP) — Hyundai and Kia are telling the owners of more than 571,000 SUVs and minivans in the U.S. to park them outdoors because the tow hitch harnesses can catch fire while they are parked or being driven. The affiliated Korean automakers are recalling the vehicles and warning people to park them away from […]
5 hours ago
Associated Press

Denver high school shooting suspect dead, coroner confirms

DENVER (AP) — A body found in the Colorado woods near an abandoned car was that of a 17-year-old student accused of wounding two administrators in a shooting at his Denver high school, a coroner’s office said. Park County Sheriff Tom McGraw said the body was discovered Wednesday not far from the student’s car in […]
5 hours ago
FILE - A pile of challenged books appear at the Utah Pride Center in Salt Lake City on Dec. 16, 202...
Associated Press

Library association reports record book ban attempts in 2022

NEW YORK (AP) — Attempted book bans and restrictions at school and public libraries continue to surge, setting a new record in 2022, according to a new report from the American Library Association being released Thursday. More than 1,200 challenges were compiled by the association in 2022, nearly double the then-record total from 2021 and […]
5 hours ago
FILE - California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks at a news conference in National City, Calif., on March ...
Associated Press

California lawmakers to vote on possible gas price penalties

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California lawmakers on Thursday will vote on whether to allow penalties on oil companies for price gouging at the pump, a first-in-the-country proposal aimed at stopping the kind of spikes last summer that caused some drivers pay up to $8 per gallon as the industry reaped super-sized profits. Gov. Gavin Newsom, […]
1 day ago
A demolished bike path is shown in the South River Forest near the site of a planned police trainin...
Associated Press

Muddy clothes? ‘Cop City’ activists question police evidence

ATLANTA (AP) — When police stormed an Atlanta-area music festival two days after a rainstorm, they were looking for suspects wearing muddy clothing. Authorities moved in on the South River Music Festival on the evening of March 5, over an hour after more than 150 masked activists attacked a construction site about three-quarters of a […]
1 day ago
Gwyneth Paltrow sits in court, Wednesday, March 22, 2023, in Park City, Utah. Paltrow is accused of...
Associated Press

Gwyneth Paltrow ski collision trial set for family testimony

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The two daughters of a retired optometrist suing Gwyneth Paltrow are expected to testify on Thursday about their lasting effects of their father and Paltrow’s 2016 ski collision as the trial takes on an increasingly personal note on the third day of proceedings. Attorneys are expected to call Polly Grasham […]
1 day ago

Sponsored Articles

(Photo: OCD & Anxiety Treatment Center)...

Here’s what you need to know about OCD and where to find help

It's fair to say that most people know what obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorders generally are, but there's a lot more information than meets the eye about a mental health diagnosis that affects about one in every 100 adults in the United States.
(Photo by Michael Matthey/picture alliance via Getty Images)...
Cox Communications

Valley Boys & Girls Club uses esports to help kids make healthy choices

KTAR’s Community Spotlight focuses on the Boys & Girls Club of the Valley and the work to incorporate esports into children's lives.
(Desert Institute for Spine Care photo)...
DESERT INSTITUTE FOR SPINE CARE

Why DISC is world renowned for back and neck pain treatments

Fifty percent of Americans and 90% of people at least 50 years old have some level of degenerative disc disease.
No charges in death of man who told cops he couldn’t breathe