Courtesy of New York Daily News:
Eric Garner’s widow reacted with shock and dismay Wednesday after a Staten Island grand jury chose not to indict the NYPD officer who killed her husband with a chokehold.
“Oh my God, are you serious?” Esaw Garner, her voice rising in shock and anger, told The Daily News. “I’m very disappointed. You can see in the video that he (the cop) was dead wrong!”
Garner was referring to the shocking cellphone video first published on NYDailyNews.com that showed Officer Daniel Pantaleo placing Garner in a chokehold — a move banned by the NYPD — and wrestling him to the ground.
“The grand jury kept interviewing witnesses but you didn't need witnesses,” the anguished widow said. “You can be a witness for yourself. Oh my God, this s--- is crazy.”
Esaw Garner said she is now placing her hopes for justice with the U.S. Department of Justice. (A few minutes ago Attorney General Eric Holder said that there would definitely be an investigation.)
That man did nothing to put those police officers in danger and yet they felt it necessary to swarm him and take him down to the ground. Everybody knows that a man that size is going to have trouble breathing while on his stomach, ESPECIALLY with a bunch of cops on his back.
And this man was not robbing anybody or pushing around some convenience store owner, according to witnesses he was breaking up a fight. (Though police also say he was selling illegal cigarettes.)
Please somebody tell me again how we have to accept that the Grand Jury decision must be trusted and that we have no right to second guess them.
I suppose a bit Off Topic, but man, this needs to get out there.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJaXmnWfZh8
This song supposedly has been cut from the upcoming theatrical release of the musical "Into the Woods".
Really? That's pretty much the whole point of the story - that what you say matters and has ramifications.
I'll leave y'all to connect the dots.
MarvinM
As I've commented regarding the no-indictment result of the Ferguson Bob McCulloch-orchestrated grand jury, this lack of an indictment doesn't necessarily let the officers go scot-free.
ReplyDeleteIf the NY judicial circuit court judge decides a special prosecutor is appropriate, another grand jury can be convened and more stringent standards can be applied by the prosecutor to the case, particularly regarding illegal use of force by the cops.
When does this stop? I know it's been going on for years even before this latest group that the media has taken to reporting, and not always factual. Hundreds of years if you want to be accurate. We are better than this, aren't we?
ReplyDeleteAren't we?
Mildred
Some of us are.
DeleteI think this has probably been said before, but...
ReplyDeleteAnyone else noticing that the 2nd Amendment people who supposedly believe that we need weapons "to protect ourselves from the government" don't have any problem with police killing regular folks?
Police = government
And yet your Fox News, your Rush Limbaugh, your Glenn Beck, your Hannity, your Palin... all seem to side with the government killing the citizens -- and not even getting indicted for it.
Next time I hear the old line about needing weapons to protect ourselves from the gummint I'm calling "bullshit".
I was thinking the same thing, Randall. The only explanation is that they find solidarity with the police against black people. These same jackasses are the ones who yelled and screamed when the feds went after Bundy and his welfare-ranch.
DeleteWell, he WAS "breathing while black." And so you know he therefore must have deserved it.
ReplyDeleteThis was an unconscionable over-reaction on the part of the police and choke holds were declared illegal in the nineties, so that cop was absolutely in the wrong in what he did. When someone is telling you they can't breathe, you shouldn't keep choking them. Again, since when did crossing it up with a cop automatically turn into a death penalty in this country?
ReplyDeleteM from MD
The NYPD says this was not an illegal chokehold. I'd like to know exactly what they think it was.
ReplyDeleteI'm confused by the illegality of the "loose cigarettes." I've read they are illegal because the State doesn't get to collect the usual cigarette tax, but didn't Eric Garner have to pay the tax when he acquired the cigarettes? I've not read anything addressing how he came to be in possession of untaxed cigarettes.
ReplyDeleteThe overt and vicious racism that defines the right wing of American politics has poisoned every aspect of American life. Is is a coincidence that since President Obama was elected TWICE
ReplyDeletethere have been more white on black murders than we have seen since the civil rights era. When was the last time we heard of a cop killing a white man? This is so wrong. Evil is winning in this so-called "exceptional" country.
I am just stunned. I just watch the video of a man dying. Wow!
ReplyDeleteA lot different from seeing someone shot. This man was choked to death while held down by police officers--what 5 or 6--and all the while he kept saying: "I can't breath. I can't breath."
I knew instantly there was a problem when all the cops started backing away and telling everyone to get away.
I'm surprised they didn't seize the camera.
Also noticed the police said he suffered a "heart failure" or cardiac arrest, or something similar. Like it was a natural death.
Yes, the guy's heart stopped--because he was choked to death. Let's get back to the root cause of death here. I wonder what the autopsy says.
And all because of his Major Criminal offense of selling cigarettes that weren't taxed????!!!???
The man was upset and not cooperating with whatever they wanted (not sure what they wanted of him), but he was polite and said "officer" and wasn't cussing or yelling or jumping up and down. Just frustrated and angry, but didn't appear dangerous or drunk or drugged crazy.
I'm still upset by what I saw. I watched a guy being choked to death. Right here. Right now.
Also, doesn't look like anyone did anything to try to resuscitate him, did they?
The coroner said that he died from the chokehold. Full stop. How you have that statement combined with that video & not vote for an indictment is completely beyond me.
Delete"I'm surprised they didn't seize the camera."
Delete-----------------------------------------
They indicted the camera's owner, though. On gun charges that from a couple of weeks after this murder that he filmed.
I guess we're supposed to think twice about filming these things.
I've been reading the NY Post Page where the video is.
ReplyDeleteThe comments are interesting. Especially since I am unfamiliar with the case specifics until now.
One says autopsy says he died of strangulation.
Another says the EMT said he was dead and then the cops started asking the Garner if he could walk.
Another said they did do CPR, but that you don't do CPR on someone who is breathing--only those who quit breathing.
One person keeps trying to defend the police and saying it's Garner's fault.
Overall, the comments tend to be what you'd expect to see here at IM, not what you'd see at a "general interest" news site.
ps...Darn! got the stupid letters back and not the numbers on the Captcha.
I found this piece on the Daily News and the writer really gets to the inhumanity of everything that happened to Mr Garner that day. Not just the choking, but the ambivalence of the police and EMTs who stood around as he lay dying.
Deletehttp://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/harry-siegel-lonesome-death-eric-garner-article-1.2032281
The ugliness of cops is coming out all over the country. This cop that choked this poor guy needs to be put in jail for the rest of his life. He committed murder - confirmed on the video Americans are watching across the country. The various TV channels have been playing it all day!
ReplyDeleteI feel so saddened by this; the Brown decision, that kid in Cleveland, this whole damned country is going to shit.
ReplyDeleteAnd the sad thing is the cops in Cleveland will walk as well even thought the initial report was that it was a twenty year old man with others present and that they warned him three times to drop the gun. Then the tape comes out and they come roaring up and start shooting as they are exiting the vehicle. Jim Cavanaugh on MSNBC said that if that was a twenty year old gang banger with a gun, he would have shot them before they even got out of the vehicle.
DeleteIt is murder.
ReplyDeleteGarner's widow said the cops were "dead wrong" ...
ReplyDeleteWhat a perfect two-word summation of the current spree of unpunished racist murders.
I just saw a 4 panel cartoon of a black father trying to explain to his little boy, as he holds up 4 newspapers that have the names of the last four unarmed black kids killed.
ReplyDeleteHis posture gets progressively pulled downwards with each one the boy holds up.
I thought it was an excellent way to get to those who are yelling that the angry blacks should just go home and accept that justice does not apply to them.
I can't draw, or I'd try one even LESS subtle:
A couple coming to dinner at a cop's house, horrified at an array of mounted heads of murdered black boys on his den wall.
But going by the obscenely racist comments I'm seeing on Facebook, many would find such a drawing FUNNY...sigh.
He was murdered and there's a video to prove it. I just don't get it. How can the cop get to walk away? I've always thought that this case was worse than the Michael Brown one, since the video shows everything that happened.
ReplyDeleteStewart Speechless Over Eric Garner Decision: 'I Don't Know What To Say' (VIDEO)
ReplyDeletehttp://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/jon-stewart-eric-garner-speechless
De Blasio: Justice Department Will Investigate Chokehold Death
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/bill-de-blasio-eric-garner-eric-holder-justice-department
Eric Holder Announces DOJ Investigation into Violations of Eric Garner’s Civil Rights
ReplyDeletehttp://www.politicususa.com/2014/12/03/eric-holder-announces-doj-investigation-violations-eric-garners-civil-rights.html
I think we need to get rid of grand juries. They serve no purpose; we need prosecutors who will prosecute crime, whether done by ordinary citizens of by the police. This is how many shameful deaths since Trayvon Martin? And is it all because of President Obama's racial background? I weep for this country.
ReplyDeleteBeaglemom
How do you possibly make this connection of these highly publicized, and truly terrible stories, to Obama's racial makeup? Not everything is a race case lady... bad thing sometimes happen to people of all races, people like you are the ones that always bring up race and exacerbate problems. Connecting this to Obama being president you are a fucking moron.
DeleteBill O’Reilly: Eric Garner ‘Did Not Deserve What Happened to Him’
ReplyDeleteHe said every American and every police officer should be united is saying that Garner “did not deserve what heppend to him.”
Watch the video below, via Fox News:
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/bill-oreilly-eric-garner-did-not-deserve-what-happened-to-him/
Eric Garner’s Mother: What Video Was the Grand Jury Looking At?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mediaite.com/tv/eric-garners-mother-what-video-was-the-grand-jury-looking-at/
Fuming Stewart Gets Serious to Talk ‘Utterly Depressing’ Eric Garner Case
ReplyDeleteJon Stewart opened Wednesday night’s Daily Show dropping the comedy to tackle the “utterly depressing” non-indictment in the Eric Garner case.
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/fuming-stewart-gets-serious-to-talk-utterly-depressing-eric-garner-case/
Fox News’ Judge Andrew Napolitano is really up in arms about the Eric Garner grand jury, telling Hugh Hewitt today that the encounter “is clearly a case for criminally negligent homicide.”
ReplyDeleteHe said that Garner wasn’t wrestling for the gun, so there was no serious fear for the cop’s life here. To Napolitano, this just came down to “choking to death a mentally impaired, grossly obese person, whose only crime was selling cigarettes without collecting taxes on them.”
http://www.mediaite.com/online/foxs-napolitano-garner-clearly-a-case-for-criminally-negligent-homicide/
Twitter users share heartbreaking, terrifying examples of being #AliveWhileBlack
ReplyDeletehttp://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/12/twitter-users-share-heartbreaking-terrifying-examples-of-being-alivewhileblack/
Gun ‘zine writer has 20 fun tips for how to kill everyone you meet including pregnant ladies
ReplyDeletehttp://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/12/gun-zine-writer-has-20-fun-tips-for-how-to-kill-everyone-you-meet-including-pregnant-ladies/
Once cops say you are under arrest, comply quickly and don't resist, or unpleasant things will happen quickly. Everyone knows that.
ReplyDeleteRegardless, it would seem the police in this situation could have given at least a little more time and attempt at diffusing thru conversation before getting physical, and to seemingly be oblivious to realize he needed aid immediately is really unbelievable.
We will never know, but it is possible that use of force would have been required anyway if he had continued to wave his arms and refuse arrest. It isn't like they were just going to let him go because he was uncooperative, cops don't do that.
Let's not forget Zimmerman. Another crappy verdict. But to be fair, at least that one went to trial. The problem was, Zimmerman himself wasn't actually on trial. It was the state of Florida's stand your ground law that was on trial. And the prosecutor failed to do her job. On purpose. Her real job was to keep the reputation of the state of Florida untarnished.
ReplyDelete