Posted on 12/03/2014 2:05:50 PM PST by blam
Colin Campbell and Hunter Walker
December 3, 2014
A grand jury announced its decision Wednesday to not indict Daniel Pantaleo, an NYPD officer who held an African-American man in an apparent chokehold during an arrest last July. The man, Eric Garner, a 43-year-old father of six, subsequently died.
Garner was being arrested for allegedly selling illegal, untaxed cigarettes in the New York City borough of Staten Island. Cell phone footage captured by a bystander shows Pantaleo with an arm around Garner's neck while six other officers helped subdue him.
Chokeholds were banned by the NYPD in 1993.
According to the Daily News, Garner's widow, Esaw Garner, reacted with shock when she was informed of the grand jury's decision.
"Oh my God, are you serious?" she said. "Im very disappointed. You can see in the video that he [the cop] was dead wrong!"
Jonathon Moore, an attorney for the Garner family, told a local CBS affiliate he was "astonished by the decision" not to indict Pantaleo.
The decision is another major blow to activists who had called for the indictment of both Pantaleo and Darren Wilson, the officer who killed 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri last August.
(snip)
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
This surprises me.
What evidence is missing? Was the fact Garner died of heart attack on the way to the hospital the key factor? How so?
I am smelling a big fat rat. This case was absolutely appalling, but I guess because it happened in the stomping grounds of Obama’s new Attorney General pick, and that new mayor, no no no, the selective outrage machine cannot possibly turn it’s ire here. Nope, instead they will try to manufacture a movement around a bully in an area that lacks political heavyweights of the liberal persuasion that might become embarrassed.
I’d like to see the full non spliced video of the incident.
I say that because what we saw did not show enough footage to verify if the choke hold lasted for more than a few seconds, or if the police stayed on top of him for a length of time that prevented him from breathing for a long period of time.
Whether right or wrong, once the officers determine they are going to take you in, you have to submit.
This big guy refused to go peacefully. The officers tried to get cuffs on him. He refused to allow them to touch him. They took him down.
Am I glad they guy is dead? Absolutely not. Did he think that was going to end well? Even if he didn’t die, is being taken down on the ground like that preferable to submitting to being hand-cuffed and going peacefully?
The choke hold was improper. Was that the cause of death? It didn’t appear to be a viciously applied choke hold. Once the guy was down it appeared the officer released that hold. He may have done damage to the wind pipe. The autopsy should have revealed that.
If he did injure the person that way, the person did die from that, and it is against policy, he should have been prosecuted.
He actually died of a heart attack.
Further evidence that a choke hold was NOT applied is the fact that the subject is heard clearly saying that he can not breath. If a choke hold is applied, the individual is unable to speak.
I suspect that far larger impact to this individuals death was the fact that he was 400+ lbs, an asthmatic and that there were several officer on top of him in order to effect the arrest.
Resisting arrest? Death penalty.
Who said he deserved to die? And what leads you to believe the death was intentional?
Looks like a sleeper to me, too, and not a choke.
Minutes after Bodden addressed the media, PBA President Pat Lynch showed up to defend the NYPD. “You did not hear the private medical examiner say that they saw signs of asphyxiation. What they saw is compression to the neck, which is consistent with the medical treatment that Mr. Garner would have received by EMS, would have received in the emergency room at the hospital.”
Lynch said that the police followed proper protocol when trying to detain Garner.
“It’s a seat belt maneuver. It’s a take-down maneuver where a shorter police officer is trying to take down a taller man to the ground,” Lynch said. “You reach up, one arm is under the armpit, the other is around the shoulder, a struggle ensues while we are bringing him down to the ground, not a chokehold and it’s not consistent with a chokehold.”
Are you aware he died of a heart attack? He was in the neighborhood of 400 lbs.
Hopefully, the protesters and looters will now leave Missouri for New York.
Don’t hold your breath...
I have the solution for the “blacks vs law enforcement problem”.
Police should be required to carry 2 kinds of weapons.
For whites that commit violent crimes, cops will be allowed to carry regular guns with real bullets, and can use them as warranted.
For blacks, cops will be required to use guns shoot blanks. Or perhaps, paint guns. So, when a cop shoots a black criminal, it will up up to the criminal to notice that he was shot at, and then give himself up. It will be like the honor system that we as kids used, where if we shot somebody playing cops and robbers, we’d say “bang, bang, you’re dead”, and the kid that was “shot” would fall to the floor, pretending to have been shot.
I believe his death was negligent. As to his deserving to die that’s implied when excuses are made for his death and I’ve seen quite a few now.
“He had thirty misdemeanor convictions!”
“He shouldn’t be selling loosies!”
“He was resisting arrest!”
It doesn’t matter what he did because he wasn’t the person whose actions resulted in a death. What matters here is that the police went too far when all they had to do was write a revenue ticket and be on their way. Instead they escalated this beyond what the crime called for.
Can’t wait to see the NYPD go after those Girl Scouts if those b*tches try to sell individual cookies!
What if this 400-pound guy had died of a heart attack as a result of being handcuffed, as opposed to the hold? Would you still consider it murder? He did die of a heart attack.
From Pix11 News in New York...
“PBA President Pat Lynch showed up to defend the NYPD. You did not hear the private medical examiner say that they saw signs of asphyxiation. What they saw is compression to the neck, which is consistent with the medical treatment that Mr. Garner would have received by EMS, would have received in the emergency room at the hospital.
Lynch said that the police followed proper protocol when trying to detain Garner.
Its a seat belt maneuver. Its a take-down maneuver where a shorter police officer is trying to take down a taller man to the ground, Lynch said. You reach up, one arm is under the armpit, the other is around the shoulder, a struggle ensues while we are bringing him down to the ground, not a chokehold and its not consistent with a chokehold. ...”
A man is dead and he shouldn't be. I think that rises above the level of "police brutality".
What we have here is a failure to communicate. Garner did not deserve to die but all actions leading up to what happened have consequences. Why can’t we all just get along? I know that I would not like physical contact efforts to subdue me and would avoid such as long my authoritative trust meter was OK. Maybe teach this with some true Dad authority present and get out of postulating and stirring by borocko etal.
I actually think there probably was enough here to at least take it to trial, perhaps on involuntary manslaughter, if anything. But then I didn’t see and hear what the GJ did.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.