New York City police officers killed a man Thursday after he had broken up a fight between two other men, insisting on placing him in a chokehold and slamming his head to the pavement, piling on top of him as he gasped for air and as he continually told the cops he couldn't breathe.
The entire incident was caught on video from a witness who kept telling the cops that the man had not committed a crime.
But evidently, the cops suspected him of selling untaxed cigarettes, which apparently is a very serious crime in New York City.
According to the New York Daily News: "I can't breathe! I can't breathe!" Eric Garner, 43, repeatedly screamed after at least five NYPD officers took him down in front of a Tompkinsville beauty supply store when he resisted being handcuffed. Within moments Garner, a married father of six children with two grandchildren, ceased struggling and appeared to become unconscious as police called paramedics to the scene. An angry crowd gathered, some recording with smart phones. "When I kissed my husband this morning, I never thought it would be for the last time," Garner's wife, Esaw Gardner, told the Daily News. Police officials said Garner has a history of arrests for selling untaxed cigarettes. They did not immediately say why officers were at the scene when he drew their attention. An NYPD spokesman would only say the man "was being placed in custody, went into cardiac arrest and died" at Richmond University Medical Center.
Although police are not saying what led up to this incident, it is believed they responded to fight between two other men.
Garner broke up the fight and the two other men fled, so that left the cops with nobody to harass except Garner, whom they apparently knew from his history of selling untaxed cigarettes.
Garner weighed 400 pounds and had a series of health complications, which will no doubt be the blame for his death.
But the video speaks for itself. He was killed by the NYPD.
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WIKIPEDIA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Eric_Garner
Death of Eric Garner
On July 17, 2014, Eric Garner died in the Tompkinsville neighborhood of Staten Island, New York, after a police officer put him in an apparent[7][8][9] chokehold for about 19 seconds,[3] a tactic banned by the New York City Police Department (NYPD).[10][11] Garner was initially approached by officer Justin Damico on suspicion of selling "loosies", single cigarettes from packs without tax stamps.[12]After Garner expressed to the police that he was tired of being harassed and that he was not selling cigarettes, officers made the move to arrest Garner. Officer Daniel Pantaleo, also on scene, put his arms around the much taller Garner's neck, applying an apparent chokehold shown in a video recording of the event, which has since gone viral. While lying facedown on the sidewalk surrounded by four officers, Garner is heard repeating "I can't breathe" 11 times.[3] Garner was pronounced dead approximately one hour later at the hospital.[13][14]
After the incident, city medical examiners concluded that Garner was killed by neck compression from the apparent chokehold, along with "the compression of his chest and prone positioning during physical restraint by police". Contributing factors included bronchial asthma, heart disease, obesity, and hypertensive cardiovascular disease.[2][1][15][16][17] As a result of Garner's death, four EMTs andparamedics who responded to the scene were suspended without pay on July 21, 2014;[18] the two paramedics have since been returned to their regular duties. Officers Damico and Pantaleo were placed on desk duty, and Pantaleo was stripped of his service gun and badge.[19]
On December 3, 2014, a grand jury decided not to indict officer Pantaleo.[20] The event stirred public protests[21] and rallies[22] with charges of police brutality and was broadcast nationally over various media networks.[23][24] Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the Justice Department would launch an "independent, thorough, fair, and expeditious" civil rights investigation into Garner's death.[25]
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