--- description: The director seems to be noting similarities between the death of Eric Garner and the killing by police of a character in his 1989 film title: Spike Lee Splices NYPD Chokehold Footage With “Do the Right Thing” image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [justice](/tag/justice/) ## justice Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Spike Lee Splices NYPD Chokehold Footage With Scenes From _Do the Right Thing_  by [Denver Nicks](/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 23, 2014 12:11 AM CUT  by [Denver Nicks](/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 23, 2014 12:11 AM CUT Film director Spike Lee posted a short video on Tuesday, which mixes together footage of a black Staten Island man who died July 17 after a confrontation with the NYPD, with an eerily similar climactic scene from his 1989 movie _Do the Right Thing_. Eric Garner was a father of six who died after being held down and put in a chokehold by New York City police last week. An asthmatic, Garner can be heard in the video saying he can’t breathe while officers restrain him before he passed out. Video of the incident, recorded by[ Garner’s friend Ramsey Orta](http://time.com/3016326/eric-garner-video-police-chokehold-death/ "undefined") with a camera phone, has gone viral online. The police officer, [Daniel Pantaleo](http://time.com/3009431/nypd-arrest-eric-garner-death-video/ "undefined"), who is seen in the video putting Garner in a chokehold, which is strictly prohibited by the department, has been assigned to desk duty, while two EMT’s who failed to act to save Garner’s life have been suspended without pay. Lee titled the video, which he posted to [Instagram](http://instagram.com/sheltonjlee "undefined") and YouTube, “Radio Raheem And The Gentle Giant,” after the name of the parallel character in _Do the Right Thing,_ who dies as a result of a brutal police chokehold, and the nickname given to Garner by friends in some media reports. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3020848/spike-lee-nypd-chokehold-do-the-right-thing/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3020848/spike-lee-nypd-chokehold-do-the-right-thing/"},"headline":"Spike Lee Splices NYPD Chokehold Footage With Scenes From Do the Right Thing","datePublished":"2014-07-23T00:11:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:17:21.439Z","description":"The director seems to be noting similarities between the death of Eric Garner and the killing by police of a character in his 1989 film","url":"https://time.com/3020848/spike-lee-nypd-chokehold-do-the-right-thing/","keywords":["justice","NYPD","Law Enforcement","Spike Lee","Eric Garner"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Denver Nicks","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/justice/","name":"justice"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3020848/spike-lee-nypd-chokehold-do-the-right-thing/","name":"Spike Lee Splices NYPD Chokehold Footage With Scenes From Do the Right Thing"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Behind the Video of a Deadly Confrontation With Police","description":"TIME interviews the man who captured a fatal incident between Eric Garner and NYPD officers","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/QGZo2z1Q/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-07-22T16:49:46.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/QGZo2z1Q.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3020848/spike-lee-nypd-chokehold-do-the-right-thing/","duration":"PT3M49S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3020848/spike-lee-nypd-chokehold-do-the-right-thing/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```