Posted on 12/05/2014 5:33:01 AM PST by SJackson
Reprinted from Newsmax.com.
Sources in the mainstream media expressed outrage after a grand jury declined to indict a New York City policeman in the death of Eric Garner, but there are 11 significant facts that many of them have chosen to overlook:
1. There is no doubt that Garner was resisting an arrest for illegally selling untaxed cigarettes. Former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik put it succinctly: “You cannot resist arrest. If Eric Garner did not resist arrest, the outcome of this case would have been very different,” he told Newsmax. “He wouldn’t be dead today.
“Regardless of what the arrest was for, the officers don’t have the ability to say, ‘Well, this is a minor arrest, so we’re just going to ignore you.’”
2. The video of the July 17 incident clearly shows Garner, an African-American, swatting away the arms of a white officer seeking to take him into custody, telling him: “Don’t touch me!”
3. Garner, 43, had history of more than 30 arrests dating back to 1980, on charges including assault and grand larceny.
4. At the time of his death, Garner was out on bail after being charged with illegally selling cigarettes, driving without a license, marijuana possession and false impersonation.
5. The chokehold that Patrolman Daniel Pantaleo put on Garner was reported to have contributed to his death. But Garner, who was 6-foot-3 and weighed 350 pounds, suffered from a number of health problems, including heart disease, severe asthma, diabetes, obesity, and sleep apnea. Pantaleo’s attorney and police union officials argued that Garner’s poor health was the main cause of his death.
6. Garner did not die at the scene of the confrontation. He suffered cardiac arrest in the ambulance taking him to the hospital and was pronounced dead about an hour later.
7. Much has been made of the fact that the use of chokeholds by police is prohibited in New York City. But officers reportedly still use them. Between 2009 and mid-2014, the Civilian Complaint Review Board received 1,128 chokehold allegations.
Patrick Lynch, president of the New York City Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, said: “It was clear that the officer’s intention was to do nothing more than take Mr. Garner into custody as instructed, and that he used the takedown technique that he learned in the academy when Mr. Garner refused.”
8. The grand jury began hearing the case on Sept. 29 and did not reach a decision until Wednesday, so there is much testimony that was presented that has not been made public.
9. The 23-member grand jury included nine non-white jurors.
10. In order to find Officer Pantaleo criminally negligent, the grand jury would have had to determine that he knew there was a “substantial risk” that Garner would have died due to the takedown.
11. Less than a month after Garner’s death, Ramsey Orta, who shot the much-viewed videotape of the encounter, was indicted on weapons charges. Police alleged that Orta had slipped a .25-caliber handgun into a teenage accomplice’s waistband outside a New York hotel.
6. Garner did not die at the scene of the confrontation. He suffered cardiac arrest in the ambulance taking him to the hospital and was pronounced dead about an hour later.
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I would like to see a source for that.
In the short video I have seen, there are a dozen officers around. It would be interesting to know if there was a call and that is who responded, or if this situation built over time. Seems kinda Rodney King-ish to me. The video showed part of the situation way overboard, but in context it wasn’t as bad.
At least that is my understanding.
I used to watch some MMA, and some of those guys could make another guy tap in just a few seconds. Others could try but never get a guy to tap or pass out. I doubt the cop could choke the guy out in the 15 seconds that his hands were near the guys throat. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t want to be choked for 15 seconds, but I find it hard to believe it killed the guy.
7. Much has been made of the fact that the use of chokeholds by police is prohibited in New York City. But officers reportedly still use them. Between 2009 and mid-2014, the Civilian Complaint Review Board received 1,128 chokehold allegations.
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Pantaleo didn’t use a chokehold. He used a wrestling move taught at the police academy. It wasn’t until Garner almost forced him through a glass window that he got his left arm up around Garner’s neck. Pantaleo explained all this to the grand jury which is why he wasn’t indicted. The coroner didn’t find any evidence of choking either.
In the short video I have seen, there are a dozen officers around.
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Most of those officers arrived after the arrest took place. Look at the video again, and you’ll see a police car arriving with its siren on. That’s when the two officers got out their cuffs and began the arrest.
I find fact #7 to be downright bizarre. The author seems to be saying that the cop used an illegal chokehold, but it should be excused because the chokehold was “learned in the academy.”
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It wasn’t a chokehold. See my post #23.
(d) The incident happened way too fast for the supervising officer to properly react. The sergeant is not like a football referee. The ref has his eyes on the play, ready to call a foul the instant it happens. The Sgt. might have been on her radio, reacting to someone in the crowd, etc.
7. Much has been made of the fact that the use of chokeholds by police is prohibited in New York City. But officers reportedly still use them.
Prohibited means illegal...And illegal maneuver by the cops...
and that he used the takedown technique that he learned in the academy when Mr. Garner refused.”
But it was illegal...
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Chokeholds are banned by the police department, they are not illegal. There is no New York statute making them illegal when a police officer is authorized to use force, such as when a person resists arrest.
Regardless, it wasn’t a chokehold as I explain in #23, and as seen in the video if one looks carefully.
He still might have had the heart attack.
If you are on someone else's property, yes. AND you know that.
“That’s nice. But there is a video. And he was selling a legal product.”
He was ILLEGALLY selling an otherwise legal product.
12. Black female Police sergeant Kizzy Adoni supervized the fatal arrest of Eric Garner. Sgt Adonis made the decision to arrest Eric Garner and at no time did she attempt to de-escalate the situation.
Stop it!
U-R-making - 2 much cents...............
The hold is a carotid artery move and when applied is very effective. The problem is you learn it in the academy on a passive subject, applying it to a 350 struggling suspect is an entirely different scenario and adds many dynamics (good an bad).
bump.
Garner was not choked to death.
If I purchase a pack of cigarettes and want to sell them individually I should have every right to do so. The gov’t doesn’t need to skim off every personal transaction people make. I don’t get why it’s illegal.
But wasn’t he on the sidewalk...public property?
Is it legal to stand outside a store and sell products without PERMISSION ?
some states it could be a civil violation, unfair competition if the store sells cigarettes. usually a license to peddle is needed for any door to door sales, health permit for food.
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