Eric Garner: protests in New York as police officer is spared prosecution

[umbertino]

White House announces federal civil rights investigation into death of unarmed black man who was placed in chokehold

 

 

• Paul Lewis in Washington and agencies
• Follow @PaulLewis Follow @GuardianUS
• theguardian.com, Thursday 4 December 2014 07.32 GMT

 

The US attorney general, Eric Holder, has announced a federal investigation into “potential civil rights violations” around the death of Eric Garner after a grand jury decided not to indict Daniel Pantaleo, the New York police officer who placed the unarmed black man in a chokehold.

 

Thousands of demonstrators disrupted New York City traffic into the early hours of Thursday after the grand jury verdict. Mostly peaceful protests had sprung up on Wednesday evening at locations throughout Manhattan, including Grand Central Terminal, Times Square and near Rockefeller Center, after the panel returned no indictment.

 

The New York protests were civil, with about 30 arrests by mid-evening. Police were showing restraint and allowing demonstrators to block traffic briefly before coaxing them to move on.

 

Marchers snaked through the streets for hours, chanting and bumping up against throngs of tourists in New York for the holiday season. Disparate clusters of protesters crossed through Times Square a number of times, and one group brought traffic to a standstill on the West Side Highway along the Hudson River.

 

Later, after marching from Central Park to lower Manhattan, some protesters crossed a bridge into the borough of Brooklyn.

 

There were also small protests in Washington, DC, and elsewhere in the US.

 

In a televised address, Holder said the Department of Justice would investigate whether Garner suffered any civil rights violations when he was placed in a chokehold by the New York police department officer Daniel Pantaleo.

 

A separate DoJ investigation is under way into Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson’s fatal shooting of another unarmed black man, Michael Brown.

 

Holder promised the investigation into Garner’s death, which was caught on video, would be “independent, thorough, fair and expeditious” and pleaded with demonstrators to remain peaceful.

 

The attorney general acknowledged the deaths of Garner, 43, and Brown, 18, had tapped into wider concerns about policing. “This is not a New York issue, nor a Ferguson issue alone,” he said.

 

“We’ve all seen the video of Mr Garner’s arrest. His death of course was a tragedy. All lives must be valued – all lives. Mr Garner’s death is one of several recent incidents across our great country that have tested the sense of trust that must exist between law enforcement and the communities they are charged to serve and to protect.”

 

Holder said the Garner case has been “closely monitored” in recent months by the DoJ’s civil rights division, the US attorney’s office for the eastern district of New York, and the FBI. All three had allowed the local investigation led by the Staten Island district attorney’s office to proceed first, he added.

 

“Now that the local investigation has concluded I am here to announce that the justice department will proceed with a federal civil rights investigation into Mr Garner’s death,” he said.

 

Holder acknowledged that “substantial numbers of people” would want to protest against the decisionbut said the “ most successful movements are those that adhere to the principles of non-violence. I urge all inclined to demonstrate tonight, and in the days ahead, to remain peaceful in their demonstrations and not to engage in activities that deflect our attention from the very serious matters that our nation must confront.”

 

Police stopped Garner, a father of six, under suspicion of peddling untaxed “loose” cigarettes in July before his arrest. In footage of the moments leading up to the chokehold, Garner is heard telling police: “Every time you see me, you wanna harass me, you wanna stop me … I’m minding my business, officer.”

 

Garner repeatedly complained that he could not breathe when Pantaleo had him in a chokehold.

 

An autopsy showed Garner died as a result of the chokehold, compressions to the chest, and prone positioning during his restraint by police. The New York grand jury could have considered multiple charges, from murder to a lesser offense such as reckless endangerment, but the Staten Island district attorney, Daniel Donovan, said jurors found “no reasonable cause” to bring charges.

 

In a statement released on Wednesday night, Pantaleo expressed his condolences to Garner’s family. “I became a police officer to help people and to protect those who can’t protect themselves. It is never my intention to harm anyone and I feel very bad about the death of Mr Garner,” he said.

 

Pantaleo’s lawyer, Stuart London, said that he used a move on Garner that was taught by the police department, not a chokehold.

 

London told the New York Times that in his testimony, Pantaleo “wanted to get across to the grand jury that it was never his intention to injure or harm anyone”.

 

“He was really just describing how he was attempting to arrest someone,” he added.

 

The decision not to indict Wilson over Brown’s death sparked a night of rioting in the St Louis suburb of Ferguson last month and a wave of solidarity protests across the country.

 

Two separate investigations have been launched in relation to the Ferguson case. One is a federal investigation into whether Brown’s civil rights were violated when he was shot dead by Wilson on 6 August.

 

A second, broader, DoJ inquiry in Ferguson is examining whether the police force is responsible for discriminatory policing and other civil rights violations.

 

The New York mayor, Bill De Blasio, acknowledged the widespread discontent the Garner decision would cause. He too called on protesters to remain peaceful, saying he had just met the victim’s father, Ben, and that “Eric would not have wanted violence”.

 

Earlier on Wednesday, Barack Obama, who has been criticised over his response to unrest in Ferguson, suggested the Garner case had reaffirmed his determination to ensure all Americans were treated equally in the criminal justice system.

 

“When anybody in this country is not being treated equally under the law, that’s a problem,” the president said during a conference in Washington, DC. “And it is my job as president to help solve it.”

 

Marcia Fudge, the Ohio Democrat who chairs the congressional black caucus, warned of the message being sent by the decisions not to indict Wilson or Pantaleo.

 

“In the span of two weeks, this nation seems to have heard one message loud and clear: there will be no accountability for taking black lives,” she said. “As an American, it is growing increasingly difficult to believe that there is justice for all.”

 

Keiha Souley, 35, was driving his taxi cab on Broadway when protesters blocked traffic. As he chanted along with demonstrators, he said he did not mind the delay.

 

“You’ve got to stand up sometime,” he said.

 

In one of several “die-ins”, demonstrators lay in silence on a pavement about a block from where the Christmas tree lighting ceremony was under way at Rockefeller Center. Police blockaded the street, preventing marchers from interrupting the nationally televised event.

 

About 1,000 people packed into the ornate main hall of Grand Central Terminal for a noisy but peaceful protest.

On Staten Island, near the site where Garner was apprehended, Daniel Skelton, a black 40-year-old banker, spoke loudly as he voiced his outrage: “A black man’s life just don’t matter in this country”.

 

Garner’s stepfather, Benjamin Carr, also at the scene, consoled another angry man in a car. “We don’t want no Fergusons here,” Carr said. “All we want is peace.”

 

 

People march though traffic on 10th Avenue in New York. Photograph: Michael Nagle/EPA

 

 

Demonstrators block the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel. Photograph: Andrew Burton/Getty Images

 

 

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/dec/03/justice-department-eric-holder-eric-garner-investigation

[umbertino]

"I Can’t Breathe": As Protests Erupt in NYC, Eric Garner’s Nephew Speaks Out on Grand Jury Ruling

 

http://www.democracynow.org/2014/12/4/i_cant_breathe_as_protests_erupt

 

 

 

Vince Warren on How Police Officers Get Away with Killing from Ferguson to NYC

 

http://www.democracynow.org/2014/12/4/vince_warren_on_how_police_officers

Edited December 4, 2014 by umbertino

[Hooter]

I agree with the protesters on this one. The police were out of line, and didn't even try to resuscitate him.

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1ka4oKu1jo

[FlintNPebbles]

This one did not make any sense to me either.   The officer states he was not using a choke hold but rather a take down move....but once he was on the ground...why is his arm still on his neck.  I think the grand jury got it wrong on this one but I am not privy to all the testimony.   I understand them not releasing him when he was saying "I can't breathe" as criminals use all sorts of tactics and since he was able to voice that...he was able to breathe...but I believe it was excessive. Especially for the crime that he was accused of committing. He was not dangerous, just selling illegally gotten cigarettes...and the police officers knew that was why he was being arrested. Suppose the fact he was twice the size of any of the officers probably played a role in the excessive force.  

[umbertino]

How long before that arc bends towards justice?

by: PW Editorial

December 4 2014

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.peoplesworld.org/how-long-before-that-arc-bends-towards-justice/

[Zekiel]

Too bad there are those who will use this to perpetuate race baiting, for personal and political agenda.

This man would not be dead, if the police were not instructed to enforce, the 'No street vending' laws, that are all about collecting excise taxes. This is just so, typical, that politicians and their lust for spending, use the police as their personal 'Revenue Collection' agency. In the words of Deblagh-sio... "We lost $50 Million in revenue from the black market sales of cigarettes."

 

It's all about taxes, that this man had to die.

 

Here's the thing....... it would be a cause, that blacks would find Tea Partiers would join in with them, if only we did not have the race baiters, turning this, into a mob driven, Ferguson and Trevon Martin style, racial division.

 

The introduction of race, is planned, Hegelian Dialectic, to intstill fear, divisiveness and chaos, for the purpose of power and control, by means of, the principals of Sun Tsu warfare, being implimented against the masses...... namely..... "Divide and Conquor". People like Al Sharpie and Jesse Jackarse are 'Plantation' schills...... puppets to perpetuate crisis for profit.

 

Pity da foos, if the people were united. That scares the hell out of the progressives who want to rule and regulate away your freedoms..... the concept of millions of blacks and whites becoming unified...... that is a terrifying proposition to the professional dooshba...... err..... I mean, politician.
 

Just sayin' I might join in too.... if they don't turn it into a racial division.

 

"Smokes up! Don't choke!"

[umbertino]

"It was Criminal": Retired NYPD Detective Slams Eric Garner Grand Jury Decision

 

Thursday, December 4, 2014

 

 

http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2014/12/4/it_was_criminal_retired_nypd_detective

 

 

 

 

Did the NYPD Let Eric Garner Die? Video Shows Police Ignored Pleas to Help Him After Chokehold

 

Friday, December 5, 2014

 

 

http://www.democracynow.org/2014/12/5/did_the_nypd_let_eric_garner

Edited December 5, 2014 by umbertino