If the video being played over and over again on all the networks and cable shows is supposed to show the officer Daniel Pantaleo using a choke hold on Eric Garner. I just don’t see it.
What I see is a mountain of a man being wrestled to the ground by a group of officers. The arm seen around his neck appears to being used as leverage to bring the man down.
A choke hold requires two hands, or should I say an arm and a hand. A choke hold is when one arm is wrapped around the front of the subjects neck with the hand of the that arm secured in the crock of the elbow of the other arm and the hand of the off arm putting pressure on the subjects head. It effectively cuts off air going through the wind pipe.
That is NOT what I see in the video. Unless there is more footage detailing the actual hold then let’s not keep calling it a choke hold. It was a take down in law enforcement parlance.
As far as Mr. Garner saying “I can’t breathe” does anyone consider the fact that he was grossly overweight at 350 pounds and was a severe asthmatic. Any physical exertion could cause him shortness of breathe and illicit the statement. Does the video show that his statement was ignored for any period of time by the officers? Not that I can see because the footage stops at that point.
Was he handled roughly? No doubt. Was the violation for which he was being apprehended for trivial? Of course.
Does anyone seriously believe that 4 or 5 officers would just manhandle this guy for fun or with malice? Of course, not. As a retired detective of the NYCPD I understand that on the day of the event and probably for sometime before that the officers of the that precinct were told of a “condition” in at various locations. In this case it would be the illegal selling of untaxed cigarettes and officers would be instructed to be on the look out for such activity and further told to correct the conditon. That in my eye would have been the impetuous for the confrontation in the first place.
It is tragic when anyone dies at the hands of another, but it is not always illegal.
Even the autopsy report is being misrepresented. Compression of the neck and deprivation of oxygen were the ultimate causes of death but the use of the word ‘homicide’ only means that the death occurred in other than normal circumstances. The coroner was not implied criminal causation. The word “homicide’ should not be substituted for the word ‘murder’ or even ‘manslaughter’ The coroner also indicated that Mr. Garners asthma and heart condition contributed to his demise. Again, left out of the public dialogue and reporting.
Hopefully, the full minutes of the Grand Jury proceeding will be made available so we can have an understanding of what the 23 members heard and saw prior to their decision not to indict the officer.
Until then maybe a wiser course would be to shut up, stay calm and wait for the facts to come out. Suppositions and second guessing because you don’t like the decision of the Grand Jury is foolish and short sighted. Painting the Grand Jurors as somehow racist, incompetent or stupid is a unfounded. Ruling on such things is a weighty job. Having been before Grand Juries many times in my career I can affirm that they take their jobs very seriously indeed and ask often pointed and deep questions.
I am not naïve enough to think I will change anyone’s mind, but I do believe that the vehement reactions of the media are in direct correlation to the Ferguson, MO situation. Even if you are among those who believe that that Grand Jury got that decision correct how could you possibly speak up in support of the Staten Island non indictment without being cast as a racist. Both cases, although completely different are being lumped together as the cause de jour.
A cause de jour is the one that receives the most attention and gets blown out of proportion. Collieries and connections are made that would not be voiced outside the specific events. The two decisions are portrayed as the result of black oppression and the death of black folks at the hands of the police. Facts and statistics are heavily weighted against that belief, yet it is the one espoused by people with an agenda including the Al Sharpton’s of the world and even the President of the United States.
The rhetoric today sounds much like the nineteen sixties and that is truly unfortunate.
America is not the same country it was back then. To try and cast that aspersion is ignorant. Citing "centuries of racism that have brought us to this day," New York Mayor Bill de Blasio helps fans the embers and blatantly untrue. Using an agenda to drive the injustice dialogue afoot today is dangerous. We have come way too far to make two disconnected cases throw fifty years of progress under the bus, no matter who is leading the charge.
It appears that Ferguson has replaced the black fist symbol with the ‘hands up, don’t shoot’ pose. I can only guess what comes next.
Virgil Lassiter