I WAS THERE: Chokeholds, Blacks & LAPD Chief Daryl Gates

It was May 1982 when LAPD Chief Darryl Gates called UCLA cardiologist Dr. Richard Allen Williams with a question. Gates had a “hunch” that Blacks were dying more frequently from chokeholds because their veins or arteries didn’t open up as fast as “normal people.” Would Dr. Williams back up the chief’s theory? The call didn’t go well.