The Guardian and several Mississippi news outlets are reporting that last Wednesday, 39-year-old Jonathan Sanders, a horse trainer and resident of Stonewall, Mississippi, was out exercising his horses when he got into an altercation with officer Kevin Herrington that allegedly ended in Herrington choking Sanders to death. Herrington allegedly placed Sanders in a chokehold for 20 minutes before EMTs arrived to find Sanders dead. The killing happened between the hours of 10:30 pm and 11:00 pm outside of a gas station in the small town with a population of 1,100.
Sanders’s attorney says that Sanders said “I can’t breathe” before he died.
The Huffington Post elaborates on the details of the altercation:
Sanders, who trained horses and was often seen riding around in a horse-drawn buggy, was at a gas station with one of his animals at about 10 p.m. Wednesday when he saw an altercation between Herrington and another white man, whom Sanders knew. According to Lawrence, Sanders approached them and asked Herrington to leave the other man alone.
A witness told the attorneys that after Sanders left, Herrington allegedly said, “I’m gonna get that n****r.”
Lawrence said multiple eyewitnesses have told the attorneys that Herrington then got in his car with an unidentified civilian female and drove after Sanders, who was on his buggy. Three eyewitnesses who are related to Sanders by marriage, and who say they saw the altercation from their home, said the officer turned on his police lights when he was just behind Sanders. The lights startled the horse, which took off at a sprint, throwing Sanders off his buggy.
“Jonathan immediately began to run after his horse, unaware of what was going on behind him,” Lawrence said. “Herrington proceeded to chase Jonathan.”
Herrington allegedly grabbed a headlight tied around Sanders’ head, pulling it down to his neck and yanking him to the ground. Sanders’ body was slumped down in a “praying position” as Herrington allegedly wrapped his arms around the man’s neck, placing him a chokehold, Lawrence said.
The three witnesses in the home told the attorneys the officer would not release his grip. At the time, the witnesses said, they were not aware that the man in the officer’s grip was Sanders, their relative. One of the witnesses, who works as a correctional officer in Stonewall, came out to confront Herrington, allegedly asking the officer to let Sanders go. Herrington told the correctional officer that Sanders had reached for his gun, according to the attorneys.
Sanders is survived by two children.
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