...........well, looking at the situation from down here in Texas and not having all that much information it’s plain to see that what little is out there does not look good for the City of New York and one or two of those cops, nor should it, as the cops appear to have violated some of their own restraint policies. That said, what were they to do, just walk away?!
On the other hand, the victim, clearly resisted arrest and he had the kind of health problems that could have contributed to or outright caused his death. It does not appear arguable that had he not resisted arrest he would be alive today.
I’d say it is going to come down to what “community” the case is tried in. If it is tried in say Harlem. New York is bankrupt and the cops are in deep you know what cuz we al know what black juries can do in a high profile case like this.
In a well functioning democracy submitting to an unfair arrest or being killed shouldn't be the only options. It works like that only in a dictatorship.
A democratic society would have at least one more option: to let the man call his lawyer, and wait until the lawyer arrives. It's not like any delay in taking the criminal down could result in thousands of casualties. Unfortunately, peace officers nowadays are not even trained to be maintain peace; looks like they are trained like guards for a high security prison. They are trained to always gain control of the situation - even when that is not the right thing to do. But LEOs do not know what "retreat" means. How many families would survive if both spouses only know how to push forward? If not many, then why would anyone expect this to work in the larger society?
For a guy who was selling loose cigarettes? Maybe so.
Or, if they really felt it necessary to arrest him, maybe they could spend a few more moments and try to talk him into a peaceful surrender (after all this was not some kind of crime which threatened public safety) or maybe tase him, or pepper spray him, or, heck, throw a net over him?
For the heinous crime of selling loose cigarettes, it seems like a few things could have been attempted before resorting to excessive force.
Of course, such actions would admittedly have diluted the cops' demonstration of exactly who was boss, and deprived them of the exhilaration they surely feel when executing the forcible takedown of a resisting suspect.
If he hadn’t been dog-piled on by 4 or 5 grown men, compressing his chest as he told them that he could not breath, he may be alive today.
” That said, what were they to do, just walk away?!”
Four guys? Arrest him. What is that 90lbs per man? Traditionally (back when men were men) four guys who couldn’t control this guy into cuffs would have been known as pussies.
They did what they wanted to do which was teach a prole that he isn’t shit, and it went bad.
Daniel Panteleo has two lawsuits, one settled, one currently pending against him for falsifying reports and violations of civil rights. Both cases, all charges were dropped against the defendants because of Panteleos’ lies.
This will be the third go around for Panteleo, who is likely a Sociopathic liar. Believe him if you want, but I chose to believe that Eric Garner was merely standing there visiting with people and having a cigarette, and he had stepped in and stopped an altercation just before this vice squad sports jersey punk, and his tattooed skinny skank of a partner had showed up.
And for any of you on this thread ( not necessarily anyone on this ping) who justifies police “choke holds”, the city of New York has banned them, because of deaths. Stop with your badge polishing, statist big government boot licking excuses and lies.
Panteleo is just the adult version of a schoolyard bully who picks on the fat kid... just because he *can*, and because he's a government agent enforcing an unjust tax code on cigarettes.
http://static2.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1871926.1405698080!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_970/choke18n-12-web.jpg
http://static1.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1873029.1405826207!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_970/choke20n-4-web.jpg