Did Eric Garner receive proper first aid?

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Even if the police have every reason in the world to arrest someone and the person is injured or gets injured in the arrest, the police are still supposed to provide emergency first aid. At least that's the way I understand it.

As I understand it, putting Eric on his side was probably the right thing. For example, one aspect of the 1989 Hillsborough tragedy is that unconscious victims would have been much better off if they had been placed on their sides. (if an unconscious person is placed on their back, the throat can have a tendency to close) And add to the side position a gentle to modest chin lift and that might be the way to go.

The current recommendation for lay persons on CPR is to check for breathing. If the person is not breathing, go ahead and give CPR. And you can do only chest compressions, which are the more important thing anyway. The rescue breathing aspect is a personal choice. And the chest compressions should be 1/3 to 1/2 the depth of the chest. Which is deep. I mean, you are fighting for the persons life. Odds are with heart attack and other things, the person probably won't make it. But you're fighting for their life and at least giving them some chance.

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On the broader topic of police misconduct, I'd really encourage people to think big. What big, sprawling changes will lead to big societal improvement?

who polices the police?
They are obviously biased, I believe the officer who shot Michael Brown had reasonable doubt.
The guy who put Eric Garner in a choke hold, well he was supposedly trained to only use a choke hold in life-or-death situations.
He didn't mean to kill the guy but he should be punished somehow.

No, I think that was clear. The police did not do any first aid and even the EMTs who arrived did not give correct first aid to attempt to revive him.

No one, much of the time, sadly, and we need to change that.

Because DAs are dependent on the police for most of their cases, they face a clear conflict of interest in whether or not to bring charges against a police officer and how diligently to present a case. <--- I have heard this argued, and it makes pretty good sense to me. Now, the proposed remedy of special prosecutors perhaps appointed by the justice department, I'm not sure I'm so much in favor of that. But we definitely need some remedy.

As far as the quality of first aid Eric received . . . as I understand it, if a person is breathing there is no need for CPR. I am interested in additional sources of information on the first aid angle because I think that's an important aspect.

And I want us to take a deep breath and at least think about big changes. For example, a guy wrote an editorial in The Nation magazine and he said in many cases America is over-policed and that we over-depend on the police to solve social problems we ought to be solving in other ways.

The police where in no way in the right in anything they did that day.

To me, that was the most disturbing thing about the incident - that he was lying there motionless and no one bothered to check his pulse or whether he was breathing. They just stood over him and watched him die. Even their body language was casual.

If by "proper first aid" you mean "choke him harder, even after he says he can't breathe", then yeah.

[quote="Jacoby"]The police where in no way in the right in anything they did that day.[/quote]

The police are just perverts. This guy used to abuse my family and I. He persuaded people to put bangers in our letterbox and light them. He moved away and my mother had an offer of a house once, but she found out he was living right across the street and had to decline it.

When he was reported to the police, this fanny cop just asked if we thought about moving. Some help they are. They think they have power because of that piece of tin they wear.

Responsible police could have talked to this guy in a very matter-of-fact way where he knows they're on to him. The guy may then back off.