medical people - how can one die from "neck compression" if not from asphyxia?

Compression of blood vessels is still considered asphyxiation.

If carotid bloodflow is cut off you're gonna drop pretty quickly

This might help:

quote:

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There have also been cases of
“passive strangling” in which the subject loses consciousness,
and in falling, the neck presses against an object that compresses
the airway. In this case, it is the weight of the body
that causes death.6–7 So-called passive strangling and accidental
forms of asphyxia due to direct compression on the
neck by sliding doors or automatic windows are classified as
violent mechanical asphyxia.
In asphyxial syndromes, it is even possible for all the
findings to be negative in particular cases when death is due
to direct neurogenic action (compression of the neck) at the
cardiac level and the time is too short for petechiae and other
signs to form. In any case, the typical signs may not all be
present or evident due to biologic variability and individual
reactions. In fact, there is some ability to resist temporary
suspension of breathing activities that varies according to
factors of a physiological (physical constitution, age, physical
fitness), pathologic (respiratory, blood, cardiovascular disease),
and environmental (temperature, humidity) nature.

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LINK


This was a paper aboout 3 old folks who died of "compression of the neck" in their railed beds. They show pictures of the positions of the bodies, and it seems consistent with Mr. Garners position and physical constitution.

B/c the officer was holding his head slightly off the ground, his enormous body weight was adding additional pressure against the officers arm, restricting blood flow.

quote:

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yeah, no oxygen due to lack of blood flow = asphyxia, right?

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Yes.

Okay - track with me - EVERYTHING important flows through the neck - fresh air from the atmosphere, food (for most people), signals from the brain to the rest of the body, both voluntary and involuntary nerve signals, autonomic functions, and finally, the most vital stuff, the oxygenated blood that nourishes the brain.

So, neck compression can result in death even if it doesn't completely cut off airflow to the lungs, by simply shutting off blood flow to the brain, resulting in death (which, for the most part is the ultimate cause of most deaths).

Obviously a fractured neck can damage/sever the cervical/spinal cord, also potentially resulting in paralysis or death.

Nothing good can come of choking or strangling someone. I consider it lethal force if done with the intent to subdue.

Just my humble opinion.

quote:

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So it wasn't the arm around the throat. It was the fatness and the body position.

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Not around his throat, but around his carotid. Assumedly, if the officer would have let go immediately after he was on the ground, then the "passive stangulation" would not have occured. Maintaining the "chokehold" after he fell seems to be the cause.

quote:

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That doesn't kill anybody by asphyxiation.

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Except it did. You have no idea what additional underlying medical condition ole boy had that could have caused the asphyxiation to rapidly produce death. Was his body capable of re-expanding the artery fast enough, after being released, to produce enough blood flow to survive. It doesn't appear that it was. I agree with you that the guys body type and existing heart condition contributed, and a healthy, skinny person would have lived. But it doesn't make the officer not responsible.

ETA: And what other pressures were on him even after the chokehold was released? Was there pressure on his chest? Was his positioning such that bloodflow was still constricted? Was his excessive fat the pressure that was compressing his chest in a prone position?

good thoughts, dude.

From watching the video, it looks like a combination of manual strangulation and positional asphyxia.