My main concern is not whether or not a chokehold was used. My main concern is that a nonthreatening person (he had no weapon, wasn't violent) was killed during an arrest.
In my opinion, chokehold or not, the police did something wrong here. No person, even an uncooperative one with medical issues, should die that way.
And I don't buy the old retort: Well, he shouldn't have resisted. That's true enough. But resisting arrest is not a capital crime.
But you do make a very good point about police apathy (for lack of a better word). This case will most probably cause the pendulum to swing too much in the other direction.
Because a person died does not mean that person was executed.
There was no executioner present.
No lethal force was used.
I totally agree
I agree. This was about concentrated make-an-example-enforcement of a draconian tax on a legal product. Pure and simple.
While circumstances of the arrest and whether it was a legal hold (choke or otherwise) may exist, the fact is this man died as a result of enforcement of tax collection.
If the grand jury says the LEO involved didn’t do anything chargeworthy, he was nonetheless responsible for this man’s death. If I were on a civil jury, I’d make the city of NY pay dearly for their PC and greedy tax laws.
The guy had all kinds of phtsical problems and had a heart attack....He pumped himself off resisting arrest....surprised he got took down....and wham...he missed a beat....
Another way of putting it was that his health was so poor that it could not sustain him through resistance. Saying he was killed isn’t true in a direct way, only in a very indirect way. Garner does not appear to have died from injury, but from exertion, asthma, and being fat. ...and the police were attempting to stop the exertion, not propel it.
I agree. Police are arresting the average person. The average person may very well not be in a healthy condition. Lots of people have asthma and diabetes. They should not be put at risk for a small non-violent crime.
The problem here was that the grand jury had the wrong person in front of it for the wrong crime. The four people sitting on Garner and the one guy who is twisting his head and forcing it flat on the sidewalk were causing the death.
I would be happy if the City of New York paid the Garner family a few million and changed how they arrest huge black men.
Being wrestled to the sidewalk and handcuffed is really hard on the psychi of most of the population. I really wonder what the difference is between a forcible arrest like this and a rape. Pain, helplessness, a feeling of violation, I think its really the same thing.
Most people who agree with the police say that Garner did something wrong. But the reality is that much of the population would have also done something wrong. Its not in our Psychi to submit to a painful state of helplessness. There are lots of people who will go berzerk. Its really not their fault.
While the majority of us can quietly, logically submit. There are millions who can’t. Or who can’t all the time. And they should not risk death every time a cop approaches them. The police need to find a better way. And I hope the millions they send to the Garner family from the NYC treasury helps them find it.