Eric Garner, a 43 year-old African American male, died on July 17, 2014 in Staten Island, New York after police officer Daniel Pantaleo, 28, used a choke-hold to contain him. The confrontation arose due to Garner allegedly selling illegal cigarettes on a sidewalk he was previously arrested at. The fatal struggle between Garner and several Staten Island Police Officers was filmed by a bystander, footage that has since gone viral. The video shows Garner raising his hands and saying, “I’m minding my business, officer, I’m minding my business. Please just leave me alone… Please, please, don’t touch me.” While encounters with the police are reasonably stressing for anyone, they are especially troubling for African American males, who were found by justifiable homicide repots by the FBI, to be killed nearly two times per week in the US by a white police officer during a seven-year period, ending in 2012.
Even if Garner’s averse reaction to police questioning is understandable, it is still a form of resisting arrest, prompting Officer Pantaleo and another officer to attempt to handcuff him while he continues to shake his arms in protest. Next, Officer Pantaleo loops his arm around Garner’s neck from behind, forcing him to the ground in an illegal choke-hold. What follows is particularly disturbing, Pantaleo is on top of Garner, basically shoving Garner’s face into the pavement with four other officers helping to hold Garner down. Garner pleads, “I can’t breathe,” eleven times until he becomes silent and the officers get off of him.
A second eyewitness video, almost eight minutes long, shows the police and EMS treating Garner’s incapacitated state with an apparent lack of concern or “urgency.” Towards the end of the video, as Garner is being brought into an ambulance, the person recording asks why he never received CPR, to which a different officer replies, “’Cause he’s breathing.” Less than an hour later Garner, a father of six, passed away.
A grand jury decided on December third not to indict Officer Panteleo for the death of Eric Garner, sparking outrage and protests around the nation. Even though the medical examiner ruled Garner’s death as a homicide, determining he died from, “the compression of his chest and prone positioning during physical restraint by police,” Pantaleo was found not responsible. What’s more, the state of New York banned police use of the choke hold back in 1993 with Chief of Deparment John F. Timoney stating, “We are in the business of protecting life, not taking it.” For unarmed Eric Garner, however, that was clearly not the case. So, what would it take to get a conviction, much less an indictment? I mean, there was actual video evidence of Panteleo on top of him as he cries out that he cannot breathe. Moreover, Garner’s death essentially renders the requirement of police body cameras pointless, as they are intended to prevent police brutality and punish it when it occurs.
The NYPD defended the grand jury’s decision in the wake of intense public anger and bipartisan disapproval suggesting Garner’s own health issues made him partially accountable in his own death. The medical examiner found that, “asthma, obesity and cardiovascular disease were contributing factors,” CBS published. According to this argument, any man who does not suffer from asthma or obesity-related diseases would not have died as a result of the chokehold, making Panteleo’s exercise of an illegal take-down maneuver acceptable. In addition, Officer Panteleo told the grand jury that he attempted to remove himself off of Garner, “as quick as he could.” What exactly went down in the courtroom, I am not sure, but I find it incomprehensible that anyone who watched the same video as I could believe Panteleo is an innocent man.