Tennessee cops mocked dying man’s plea: ‘I can’t breathe’

A US jail inmate died gasping for breath minutes after police officers held him face down, with one taunting: "You shouldn't be able to breathe."

New footage from the Tennessee facility shows how William Jennette, 48, was pinned down and tied a year ago.

"Help me," he pleaded with other staff at Marshall County Jail in Lewisburg, "they're going to kill me." 

Asphyxia was listed as "a contributory cause of death" due to officers' use of the prone restraint.

Mr Jennette's official post-mortem examination was ruled a homicide, with "acute combined drug intoxication" also listed by the medical examiner as a cause of death.

The prone restraint was most recently under scrutiny in the police murder of George Floyd, a black man in Minneapolis, Minnesota, last year, 19 days after the death of Mr Jennette.