Today, a Staten Island grand jury decided not to indict the NYPD officer who placed a fatal chokehold on Eric Garner this summer, killing him. Officer Daniel Pantaleo, who is white, placed a chokehold on Garner, who was black, during a violent arrest that was recorded on video by a witness. The death occurred less than two weeks after Darren Wilson fatally shot Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Parallels have been drawn between the two cases for both involving white cops killing black civilians. The grand jury made its decision after hearing months of testimony, including from Pantaleo.
Garner’s widow expressed outrage at the verdict. “Oh my god, are you serious?” she told the New York Daily News upon hearing the news. “You can see in the video that he [the cop] was dead wrong.”
Pantaleo released a statement following the verdict: “I became a police officer to help people and to protect those who can’t protect themselves. It is never my intention to harm anyone and I feel very bad about the death of Mr. Garner. My family and I include him and his family in our prayers and I hope that they will accept my personal condolences for their loss.”
Garner’s family will appear at a demonstration at Times Square at 5 p.m. and in Harlem with Al Sharpton around 7 p.m. A protest is planned at Grand Central at 4:30 p.,. Mayor Bill De Blasio will address the press on Staten Island at 4:45 and meet with community leaders immediately after. The mayor will not attend tonight’s lighting of the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center, scheduled for 7 p.m. and another protest is set to take place at Grand Central at 4:30 p.m. Read more at The New York Times.
{Andy Heller-Matzav.com Newscenter}
keep your hands off of and away from armed cops and you won’t get hurt mess only with your own goons
Here we go again
Bottom line. Police tell you to stay put . you stay put. If you wanna play then you’ll pay
This was an accidental death but there was some negligence all around. Resisting arrest can lead to tragic accidents.
I think the jury got the officer Wilson case right, but this case is different. While the facts are true, that when an officer tells you to do something you should comply, the nature of what the officers did in this case seem me bizzare. I dont want this particular officer on the streets.