Tag: Eric Garner
Four Years Later NYPD Prepares to Discipline Cop in Eric Garner’s Death
This article was originally written The Roots by Michael Harriot
1,462 days after Eric Garner wheezed the words “I can’t breathe” before giving up the ghost on a Staten Island sidewalk, the New York Police Department has decided to discipline Daniel Pantaleo, the police officer whose arms just happened to be wrapped around Garner’s neck at the time.
Well … maybe
“Based on our most recent conversations, it has become clear that a definite date by which time a final decision by the U.S. DOJ will be rendered in this matter cannot be predicted,” wrote Lawrence Byrne, the deputy commissioner for legal matters for the NYPD.
According to the Associated Press, Byrne sent a letter to the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department, stating: “The NYPD has come to the conclusion that given the extraordinary passage of time since the incident without a final decision on the U.S. DOJ’s criminal investigation, any further delay in moving ahead with our own disciplinary proceedings can no longer be justified.”
On July 14, 2014, Eric Garner died from what the New York City Medical Examiner termed: “Compression of neck, compression of chest and prone positioning during physical restraint by police.”
Despite having had 18 allegations of some sort of abuse or misconduct in 14 separate incidents before his encounter with Garner, that police officer, Daniel Pantaleo, is still employed as a police officer earning a six-figure salary after a grand jury declined to indict him in 2014.
Leaked Documents Reveal How the NYPD Ignored Abusive History of the Cop Who Killed Eric Garner
After the incident, President Barack Obama’s attorney general, Loretta Lynch, instructed prosecutors to begin building a case for indictment. But Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has been hesitant to push for prosecution since his boss and CEO of the Keebler elf empire, Jeff Sessions, announced that his Justice Department would not continue the practice of punishing police officers, because it leads to”racial animosity.”
Now the NYPD says it will no longer wait for federal prosecutors and will hand the case over to its Civilian Complaint Review Board. The Department uses CCRB as an “impartial agency that has been independent of the police department since 1993” to review civilian complaints against police.
It is composed of nonpolice investigators who conduct investigations in cases of unnecessary or excessive force, abuse of authority or discourtesy. In theory, it is more effective to have people outside the police department oversee these kinds of allegations.
Although the NYPD typically waits for prosecutors to settle a case before handing it over to the CCRB, the Justice Department says it told the NYPD months ago that the CCRB could move forward, adding that the DOJ “does not have any bearing on the decision-making timeline.”
So four years and a day after Eric Garner was killed; three years, 5 days after the City of New York agreed to pay the family $5.9 million and seven months after the death of his daughter, Erica Garner, someone finally decided to discipline the man who “compressed” Garner to death.
But the most ridiculous response surrounding this news came from Pat Lynch, head of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association who wrote, in a statement, that Daniel Pantaleo, the man who handed Eric Garner a sidewalk death sentence, is “entitled to due process and an impartial consideration of the facts.”
I laughed so hard…
I couldn’t breathe.
READ MORE FROM THE ROOT
Eric Garner’s mom barred from granddaughter’s funeral
Eric Garner’s mom was barred from her own granddaughter’s funeral on Monday, sparking an ugly shoving match outside a Harlem church.
Gwen Carr wasn’t allowed inside the First Corinthian Baptist Church, where mourners honored Erica Garner, the 27-year-old daughter of Eric Garner — whose death at the hands of the NYPD touched off national protests in 2014.
Erica Garner died from a heart attack on Dec. 30.
Carr blamed Monday’s fiasco on her daughter-in-law, Erica’s mother, Esaw “Pinky” Garner.
“She didn’t want none of our family in there, on my side — the Garners,” said Carr, explaining that the family rift has been building for years.
“Pinky” Garner could not be immediately reached for comment.
“We would not disrespect Gwen,” Sharpton said. “We don’t take sides with that.”
via: https://nypost.com/2018/01/09/eric-garners-mom-barred-from-granddaughters-funeral/
Eric Garner’s daughter in coma after suffering heart attack
Erica Garner — whose father Eric Garner became a symbol of police brutality when he died after being placed in a chokehold —was in a coma Sunday night after suffering a heart attack, family members said.
“So my sister had another heart attack last night and she’s in critical condition,” Erica’s sister Emerald Snipes wrote on Facebook.
“I just left the hospital and it’s not looking good…I pray she makes it she has two little ones to live for.”
Garner, 27, became an activist after her father’s untimely death in 2014.
The woman’s Twitter account asked supporters to pray for her.
via: https://nypost.com/2017/12/25/eric-garners-daughter-in-coma-after-suffering-heart-attack/
Pregnant woman pulled over, officer gives help instead of a ticket
As I sit and read this “feel good” story about this supposedly compassionate and caring Officer I can’t help but to think of Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Walter Scott, Sam Debose, Sandra Bland….
Until we can get these superficial, mentally disturbed, deranged, girlfriend or wife beatin’ over zealous quick draw to kill my unarmed black;brown brotha and sistahs. When we as a people can CONVICT and SENTENCE these killer cops, when we can rebuild the justice system, when the GOOD COPS like Officer Jimmy Allen of the Seattle WA Police Department who stopped to helped a 9 month pregnant woman of color put her license plate on her brand new car can STAND UP AND STEP UP to their OWN; when our white folk start talking openly with PoC about race and how their white privilege is effecting our nation and HOW THEY CAN HEAL THE WOUNDS that has oppressed and still is oppressing the oppressed, when we can STOP POLICE BRUTALITY, when white folk CAN acknowledge that #ALLIVESMATTER DON’T MATTER if you see BLACK LIVES killed, beaten and bruised just for the color of their skin then you may say #ALLIVESMATTER (FOR NOW #BLACKLIVESMATTER) when white folk can have EMPATHY and sympathy for our my people of color only then can we TRULY feel good moment for this heartwarming story.
Source: http://www.kirotv.com/news/news/pregnant-woman-pulled-over-officer-gives-help-inst/nnBKj/