Video shows police attacking former NFL player in Atlanta parking lot
By
Alec Andersen
28 April 2018
A video posted Thursday to Facebook and Instagram of police in an Atlanta, Georgia suburb attacking and choking former National Football League (NFL) player Desmond Marrow has sparked widespread outrage on social media.
Marrow, a 30-year-old African-American father of one, was signed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as an undrafted defensive back in 2012 and spent a year with the team. He also played for the Houston Texans and in the Canadian Football League.
In the video, two Henry County police officers can be seen dragging Marrow and slamming him against a pickup truck in a Target store parking lot in McDonough, a town located southeast of Atlanta. He repeatedly pleads with the officers, “I’m not even doin’ nothing. I’m not even fightin’ back. I’m not even fightin’ back.”
One of the cops, identified in a police report as Officer Donaldson, suddenly grabs Marrow’s right leg and pulls it up into the air, then body slams Marrow face-first into the asphalt. Marrow begins to cry in agony, saying, “Oh my god. I didn’t even do nothing. I didn’t even do nothing to y’all man!”
He repeats this several times, crying and screaming in agony before yelling, “You set me on my mofuckin’ head!” At that point, a third officer joins to hold Marrow down as one of the others, identified as D. Rose, forcefully presses his hand on Marrow’s neck.
As he chokes and struggles for breath, Marrow can be heard several times telling officers, “I can’t breathe,” in a scene reminiscent of the 2014 police murder of Eric Garner in New York City.
Marrow’s body then goes completely limp and he appears to fall unconscious. After a few seconds, Rose slowly removes…