Prisoner filmed pleading 'I can't breathe' as guards wrestled and pepper-sprayed him died in his cell hours later

Prison guards have been filmed piling on to an inmate repeatedly begging for oxygen as they wrestled and pepper-sprayed him - hours before he died in his cell.


Father-of-four, Michael Sabbie, 35, attracted the attention of the guards when he allegedly refused to return to his cell in the Bi State Jail in Texarkana on the border of Texas and Arkansas.

He was in custody on a misdemeanor domestic assault charge at the time of the incident in July last year but had pleaded not guilty.

In the video , Sabbie is shown resting by a wall to catch his breath when a guard approaches him and throws him to the ground.




Another five officers join in, holding him down while he yells: "I can't breathe".
He begs more: “I can’t breathe, sir. Please! Please!”
He later said: "Please, I can't breathe. I have pneumonia."
Officers pepper-sprayed his face.

He was found dead in his cell the next morning but a medical examiner noted Sabbie's obesity and deemed his death “natural”, The Huffington Post reported.

Sabbie was arrested and put in the privately-run prison after an argument with his wife over money.
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