I have been too busy to pay much attention to this. But from what I now understand, this was a needless death in which the lives of police were not threatened. He didn’t have a weapon -— he had cigarettes. Whether black, white, brown, yellow, or red, this death should not have happened and the chokehold violated procedure. No matter how foolish the cigarette law may be, had he been incarcerated for eight violations, he would be in jail right now for awhile instead of being dead. How many chances does one get in NY before he spends some time in jail?
“He didn’t have a weapon -— he had cigarettes”
Unless he was subdued, how was the officer to know he didn’t have a weapon. At some point, the discussion of how to act when confronted by a police officer must take place. If not, we will be discussing the next “victim” in the near future.