Wednesday's "no indictment" returned by a Staten Island jury against Daniel Pantaleo, the officer who placed a chokehold on Eric Garner on Eric Garner - - who died shortly after the altercation, touched off a firestorm of anger and protests across racial and political lines in New York City and across the nation. The jury decision comes on the heels of last week's no true bill decision by another grand jury in the Ferguson case - - and nearly 20 years since ex-NYPD officer Francis Livoti placed a deadly chokehold on Anthony Baez in the Bronx (Livoti was cleared on state Manslaughter charges but was later convicted on Federal civil rights violations and sentenced to 7.5 years in prison).
Now you can take the comments like a grain of salt and say "The cops killed him" or a few like Rep. (R) Peter King saying that Garner was overweight and his obesity contributed to his death along with a crocodile tear jerker "we are sorry for Garner's family" quote.
But the question now lies in not about the chokehold on Garner but how the jury reviewed all of the particulars (evidence, testimony, statements, etc) and concluded that under application of NY State Penal Law, that they could not agree on a true bill against Daniel Pantaleo. Did the reviewed the video of the chokehold? Did they also review the video AFTER the chokehold (yes there is another video which shows officers standing around Garner's unconscious body for 5 of the 7 minutes until EMS arrives and they were asking questions to a lifeless Garner - - no CPR, no resuscitation)..
Here is the original video of the events leading up to the chokehold, courtesy of the NY Daily News. - - link in video
And here is the video taken after the chokehold - - you see Garner not responding while one officer holds his cuffed arm - - a pulse is taken and the officer confirms there is no pulse on Garner. But guess what cops tell the female paramedic/EMT when she arrives, he has a pulse - - and all of the officers stand there doing nothing but control the crowd - - if it was one of their officers, they would put him in a patrol car or keep calling for the "bus" then rush him to SI University Hospital.
So now, that did the NYPD officers really do? They treated Garner like a low priority case like he suffered a cold or minor cough instead of treating him like a trauma patient. This is cold-blooded ignorance at it's worst - if not murder. The officers left Garner to die instead of trying CPR at least. It doesn't matter about Garner not cooperating during the arrest (he should have just let the cops cuff him - even if he was in the right), it's how cops treat a unconscious suspect in relation to one of their officers under similar circumstances.
Next blog post: How to deal with law enforcement on a professional level and knowing your rights.
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