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5 years ago today, July 17th, 2014, police officers accused Eric Garner of selling individual cigarettes on the street and choked him until he fell to the ground. The entire thing was caught on cellphone video as he told them he couldn’t breathe. He told them, audibly, 11 times that he couldn’t breathe. They continued to press him down and choke him until he died.
Yesterday, Federal courts had a deadline to charge the officers involved and chose not to, despite the fact that they choked a man to death on video while he told them, over and over, he couldn’t breathe.
It’s important that we evaluate things like racist tweets and internment of people of color, racially charged support from white supremacist organizations and racist policies from the highest executive level in the context of the systemic dismissal of rights at the lowest executive levels- the police. None of this is happening in a vacuum.
This is one story we are all going to be telling our grandchildren. And what comes next is important.
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Transcript Provided by YouTube:
00:00
oh it is a decision that has been a long
00:03
time coming hello everyone I’m David uh
00:04
cherie stacy working later today we’re
00:06
going to begin with that breaking news
00:07
after five years and a long
00:09
investigation countless tears the
00:11
Justice Department has decided not to
00:13
bring any federal charges against Daniel
00:15
Pantaleo the NYPD officer accused the
00:18
death of Eric garner garner died during
00:20
an arrest on Staten Island in 2014 his
00:23
family and friends are outraged at this
00:25
announcement and now there’s word that
00:26
there perhaps was a tug of war within
00:28
the Justice Department News fours Tracy
00:29
stray hands covering at all she’s at the
00:31
federal courthouse in downtown Brooklyn
00:33
Tracy well David you know this is a case
00:36
that’s been emotionally charged from
00:37
jump and that certainly happened outside
00:39
of the building today Eric Garner’s
00:41
family saying they were blindsided by
00:43
this decision by the Department of
00:45
Justice something that they heard about
00:47
on social media before they even got
00:50
inside and they say something that was
00:52
inappropriate especially given that
00:54
today is the eve of Eric Garner’s death
01:05
a very emotionally charged emerald
01:22
garner Snipes coming out of the
01:24
Department of Justice courthouse after
01:26
learning the decision we also saw Gwen
01:28
Carr guarantors mother entered the US
01:31
Attorney’s Office shortly before the
01:32
word came out now keep in mind that his
01:34
family was actually summoned here for a
01:37
meeting with federal prosecutors who
01:39
ultimately announced that decision
01:41
Daniel Pantaleo has been on desk duty
01:43
since Eric garner died during that
01:44
attempted arrests on Staten Island
01:46
five years ago video appeared to show
01:49
the officer with his arm around
01:50
Gardner’s neck in an alleged chokehold
01:53
that was banned by the NYPD more than
01:55
two decades ago while other officers
01:57
held him down garner who had asthma
01:59
could be heard on the video repeatedly
02:02
saying I can’t breathe that something
02:04
that sparked several protests nationwide
02:07
car and ever ever now Sharpton had this
02:10
to say about this morning’s announcement
02:12
years ago my son said I can’t breathe 11
02:16
times and today we can’t breathe
02:21
because they have let us down 22 years
02:25
later with a video evidence they’re
02:31
going to let a man walk free which
02:33
threatens the civil rights of every
02:35
citizen in this district
02:38
despite this morning’s announcement NBC
02:41
News has learned that attorney drew
02:42
General William Barr actually made the
02:45
ultimate decision in this case adopting
02:47
the recommendation of the US Attorney’s
02:49
Office in Brooklyn but lawyers in the
02:51
Civil Rights Division actually had a
02:54
different view of the Eric garner case
02:56
and believe charges could have been
02:58
pursued that’s according to two senior
03:00
officials with the Department of Justice
03:02
AB Daniel Pantaleo s disciplinary trial
03:05
was held last month the judge who
03:07
oversaw those proceedings has not yet
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Photo credit: Screenshot from video