It's an old trick used by police everywhere. It is used to justify brutal force in effecting arrest.
Obviously, it's the law that IF you are TOLD you are under arrest, you must submit to that arrest - unconditionally. But telling someone they are under arrest has certain dangers. One in twenty might refuse to be taken, and you have lost the advantage of surprise. So the problem is to find a way to goad or trick the person into appearing to resist arrest without actually warning him.
It's an old Arizona trick; but I... I have seen it used as far north as Montana.
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Now, I've watched the Eric Garner video several times. What I have not seen is the part where they specifically informed Eric Garner that he was under arrest. I saw the officer in front of him suddenly push Garner in the chest and quickly reach for Garner's left hand. I saw Garner reflexively pull his hand away and pull both hands out of the way toward himself.
In my opinion, absent a clear verbal declaration that Garner was under arrest, the first violent act was a battery on Garner by the officer in front of him. The fact that the officer behind him immediately grabbed him with a choke hold tells me that it was a planned maneuver to take him by overwhelming surprise force without warning.
Police officers who claim Garner was "resisting arrest" are full of baloney and they know it.
Unless, of course, somebody knows something I don't know.