Pregnant Woman In Chokehold: Police Officer Uses Banned Move On Woman 7-Months Pregnant

Photos of a pregnant woman in a chokehold by a New York police officer is getting a lot of attention. Seven-months pregnant Rosan Miller and her family were accused Saturday of illegally grilling on the sidewalk. Someone used a cell phone to snap the pictures. The footage shows a NYPD officer with his arm round the 27-year-old woman’s throat while he arrested her.

The New York Post reports that cops arrived at Miller’s house on Bradford Street in East New York at about 7:30 pm when they saw her husband, Moses, grilling on a public sidewalk and asked him to move everything to their backyard. Mr. Miller didn’t provide his ID as requested by police and walked off. As police were in the process of arresting Mr. Miller, Rosan’s brother, John Miller, got involved by slapping police in an effort to stop the arrest.

Rosan Miller found herself getting arrested as well, but resisted against officers as they tried putting cuffs on her. The pregnant woman was placed in a chokehold position as police subdued her physical protest. The video shows the whole situation unfold with the couple’s 7-year-old son watching everything.

Talking at a press conference Monday, former city councilman, Charles Barron, reacts to the chokehold images:

“She was grilling in front of her home, not committing any crime.”

Barron claims at least one of the officers called Miller’s husband the N-word.

Cops are prohibited from using chokeholds on suspects. According to police the NYPD Internal Affairs Bureau is reviewing the incident. Police officers are restricted from using chokeholds on suspects.

Miller wasn’t injured in the ordeal and she received a summons for disorderly conduct. Her brother-in-law, John Miller, is charged with obstruction of justice and harassment. Moses Miller is charged with resisting arrest.

Huffington Post adds that NY police officers have been prevented from using chokeholds for 20 years. Reuters is cited in their report as revealing the department currently has a “backlog” of complaints about this very thing being done by police. This news about the pregnant woman being in a chokehold comes just after a Staten Island man died after NY police subdued him the same way. The NY cop who used the move on Garner could face murder charges for the incident.

Garner was arrested and charged for the illegal sale of cigarettes. After Garner’s death, activist Rev. Al Sharpton is calling for a nationwide ban on chokeholds. The latest incident involving a pregnant woman, will make that message louder. Sharpton says:

“We cannot just depend — and this is important — on police policy to stop the choke hold. We need a federal precedent.”