Report: Grand Jury Won’t Indict N.Y. Cop in Eric Garner Case
Michael Brown's death at the hands of a policeman was preceded last summer by Eric Garner's tragically similar case in Staten Island, N.Y.
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Michael Brown’s death at the hands of a policeman was preceded last summer by Eric Garner’s tragically similar case in Staten Island, N.Y.
On Wednesday, the two stories continued to parallel each other in that another grand jury voted not to indict the policeman in question — NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo — for putting Garner, who was asthmatic, in a chokehold after a confrontation on the sidewalk on July 17. Garner was African-American, and Pantaleo is white.
That sequence of events was captured on film. Pantoleo was looking into accusations that Garner was selling loose cigarettes near the Staten Island Ferry Terminal, as The New York Times relayed in a report about the grand jury vote, and the officer breached NYPD protocol by using a chokehold, which had been banned by the department. Here’s more from the Times:
The decision was reached on Wednesday after months of testimony including from the officer who used the chokehold, Daniel Pantaleo. Mr. Garner died after the violent confrontation. The grand jury reached its decision less than two weeks after a grand jury in Ferguson, Mo., declined to bring charges against a white officer who fatally shot an unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown.
[…] Jonathan C. Moore, a lawyer for the Garner family, said they hoped that federal prosecutors would continue to examine the case, and he urged people upset by the decision to voice their dismay, but to do so peacefully.
“We’re astounded by the outcome of the grand jury process and that after hearing months of evidence and having deliberated that they would find no true bill as to any potential criminal charge,” Mr. Moore said in a brief phone interview.
“It’s very upsetting to us – we obviously hope that the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District, Loretta Lynch, will take a close look at this.”
Officer Pantaleo, who was stripped of his badge and gun, released a statement Wednesday offering condolences. “It is never my intention to harm anyone and I feel very bad about the death of Mr. Garner,” he said. His future with the NYPD remains to be decided.
The July 17 video of Pantaleo putting Garner in a chokehold is posted below (be advised that this content may be upsetting to watch):
–Posted by Kasia Anderson
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Officer Daniel Pantaleo has gone all but unpunished for killing Eric Garner. This is what happens when American imperialism comes home.
After more than two years, there may soon be significant movement on the case.
When a grand jury declined to indict an NYPD officer in the death of Eric Garner, The Nation Institute fellow drove past the reservations, equivocations and micro-concerns that typify polite journalism and seized the message of the day.
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