Burbank Man Screamed ‘I Can’t Breathe’ Before Death

A settlement has been reached in the manslaughter case against seven members of the California Highway Patrol, Altadena Station, and a nurse, who in 2020, caused the death of 38-year-old Edward Bronstein.

By Jerry Friedman

The 24 million dollar settlement, is the largest settlement that the State of California has ever paid. It is the second largest ever paid out in the entire nation, which is a testament to the egregious behavior of the CHP.

Edward Bronstein, was stopped for suspicion of driving under the influence and transported to the Altadena CHP Station. The video tape of the incident had been suppressed by the CHP, but a court ordered it released more than a year after the murder took place. Two tapes were released, one showing the very one-sided 18-minute ‘struggle’ between the handcuffed 38-year-old and the group of officers. Bronstein begged, screamed, and pleaded saying “I’ll do it willingly! I’ll do it willingly, I promise!” The officers pressed the handcuffed man face down into a mat using their knees and body weight as he screamed “I’ll do it! I’ll do it!” Officers can be heard telling him “It’s too late!”

As the struggle continues Bronstein begins to scream “I can’t breathe!” …Officers can be heard yelling at him to “stop yelling!” After some time, his protestations begin to fade… “I can’t!” … Even after Bronstein became motionless and silent, at least five officers appeared to keep weight on his body as the nurse drew the blood. When it became clear the man was unconscious, an officer and the nurse could be seen slapping Bronstein in the face and yelling “Edward, wake up!” at his lifeless body. More than 11 minutes after Bronstein struggled to utter his last words, the officers began attempting CPR.

A second 12-minute video shows the officers failed attempts to revive the man. During this second video, an officer tells the EMT that Bronstein had been “complaining of shortness of breath” and “when we rolled him back over his lips were blue.” At some point, an officer can be heard warning those present “Everybody’s on camera.” The original lawsuit listed nine officers; Carlos Villanueva, Christopher Sanchez-Romero, Darren Parsons, Diego Romero, Dusty Osmanson, Eric Voss, Justin Silva, Dionisio Fiorella, Marciel Terry, and Sergeant Michael Little.

Some small and general “reforms” in the CHP’s policies were implemented in the wake of this heinous homicide.  Additional training of uniformed officers and changes to “transport techniques” have been put into place to protect the public from the “risk of positional asphyxia” during routine interactions with the CHP.