A few days ago I made the statement that all police should be equipped with body cameras, as a solution to the spate of police murders perpetrated against black men and children. When I’m wrong, I say so. Now we can see that, even if we have clear video, justice will STILL not be done.
Hundreds of protesters took to the streets across New York City and in other cities Wednesday evening after a Staten Island grand jury said it would not indict a white police officer in the death of a black man, a decision that prompted Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to announce the opening of a federal civil rights investigation.
The grand jury declined to bring charges in the death of Eric Garner, a 43-year-old Staten Island man who died in July after a New York police officer placed him in an apparent chokehold during an arrest.
The decision struck many protesters as a chilling and frustrating repetition of events in Ferguson, Mo., where a grand jury last month said it would not indict the white officer who killed Michael Brown, a black 18-year-old. The Brown case ignited waves of protests and a national debate over the treatment that African American men receive at the hands of law enforcement officers…
Inserted from <Washington Post>
There is little doubt as to what happened. I passer by recorded it with his cell phone.
Any standard issue Mark II eyeball should be clear about that.
Chris Hayes and his panel discussed the background, the meaning, and the demonstrations.
If you can’t see it here, try the direct MSNBC link. If that doesn’t work you can watch it on YouTube.
This reminds me of an incident that happened here in Portland in 1985. It also shows just how blatant polics were in their lack of respect for human life and civilian authority over them
…Then Greg Cavic, a Shell gas-station attendant bearing a spooky resemblance to Kato Kaelin, walked over and started arguing with Stevenson. By the time police arrived, Cavic and Stevenson’s dispute had grown heated enough that Officer Bruce Pantley stepped between them. To this day, exactly what happened next remains a mystery. But the upshot was that Officer Gary Barbour put Stevenson in a "sleeper hold" for 15 seconds, and Stevenson’s heart stopped beating. None of the officers administered CPR, and Stevenson was pronounced dead on arrival at a nearby emergency room.
That Barbour and Pantley overreacted was clear. So, too, was their violation of police rules that called for officers to apply CPR following use of the sleeper hold.
But the incident posed larger questions: Would the officers have reacted the same way if Stevenson had been white?
When District Attorney Michael Schrunk called a highly unusual public inquest, many questioned whether the panel would be anything more than a whitewash.
Against this backdrop of tragedy, two officers spat in the face of a city trying to grapple with these questions. On the very day Stevenson was buried, officers Richard Montee and Paul Wickersham sold as many as 30 T-shirts in the East Precinct parking lot, depicting a smoking gun and emblazoned with the slogan "Don’t Choke ‘Em, Smoke ‘Em.”
The black community was outraged… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <Willamette Week>
Click through for an excellent article.
Clearly cameras will not be enough. The prosecutors who depend on police for their career advancement need to be removed from the loop.
I did take a quick peek at the Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda, Faux Noise. Their take is that Garner was the only guilty one.
15 Responses to “No Indictment”
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I am bereft of words…..
But surely this situation cannot continue for long – for if it does they will be causing civil unrest – they must stop Grand Juries being given wrong information on which to base their decisions, or just take the offending officers to court anyway. This is so worrying!
Yea I think Obama had the same idea. I think having a police state here in America where "I am the law" suits the racists nuts to a tee. The idea is not to have a police state. Where our communities work together to solve problems. And to think being a community organizer was used as belittling tactics on Obama.
The prosecuters are just as guilty. The badges plant evidence snd all kinds of other shit including lieing like a rock of course. They don't give a shit about anyone for the most part.
Even when it is obvious a convicted/suspect person is innocent these thugs with the badges and the rest in the loop will mostly NEVER admit to being wrong.
We are not getting this back either. Outta control and like climate change accererating rapidly.
If given an order these fuckers will fire into a crowd and go home and sleep well.
That's a fact.
I hate these bastards I really do and stay as far away as possible.
Both Ferguson and Eric Garner Grand Juries reflect exactly what the prosecutor's wanted to happen – "NO TRUE BILL".
As the saying goes, if the prosecutor wants to, s/he could "indict a ham sandwich." U.S. Attorneys prosecuted 162,000 Federal cases in 2010 (most recent year with data) and Grand Juries declined to provide indictments only ELEVEN (11) times.
http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/ferguson-michael-brown-indictment-darren-wilson/
The prosecutors in these two cases clearly manipulated the Grand Juries to ensure there would be NO indictment. It was their sole goal, and sadly for us citizens they succeeded.
Thank you nameless, 😆
I can generally count on Jim Wallis, the president of Sojourners, to give my grief a voice, from a perspective of authentic Christianity, as opposed to the Republican Supply-Side kind (He was actually in Ferguson when the verdict came down).
full article: http://sojo.net/blogs/2014/12/04/america-weve-got-problem
two paragraphs:
America, We've Got a Problem
… In a morally stunning decision, a Staten Island grand jury announced it would not bring criminal charges against a white police officer who choked a black man to death during a brutal incident last July. Stopped for allegedly selling some loose and therefore untaxed cigarettes, officer Daniel Pantaleo put a “chokehold” on Eric Garner, despite the fact that the move is against NYPD rules. Video of the incident shows Garner uttering his last words, “I can’t breathe.” New York’s medical examiner officially called this a “homicide,” but the grand jury said no charges will be made.
Of course, this comes just 10 days after the Ferguson grand jury decision not to indict another white police officer, Darren Wilson, for fatally shooting an unarmed black teenager named Michael Brown on Aug. 9. Sojourners had convened a retreat in Ferguson for both national faith leaders and local pastors to look deeply at the historical and theological foundations of the Ferguson events and reflect upon how the church must respond. Emotional calls from pastors in New York City came with the horrible news, and people just began to weep — one young man wailing, “This time it was all on video …. and it still didn’t matter! How can I as a black man bring a black son into this world?” Lament and prayers followed with a resolve from an extraordinary two days on the ground in Ferguson — to act.
All police should have personal cams and all squad cars should have cams. This will not solve the problem and would probably not be helpful in the "choke" incident, but it is another level of accountability we obviously need. The MO of police is superior force. How many times have we seen six cops taking down a guy so drunk he can't even stand? What percentage of cops are bad if these incidents keep happening, another today in AZ. Seems our justice and police systems are in trouble and have been for a long time. Maybe TC has a better insight to these issues than most and I would like to hear his opinion.
The pictures in the Huff Post show demonstrations in several of the cities looking as large as the Vietnam Era protests and the close-ups show at least a sizable number, if not half or more, are not black faces.
Daily Kos has an article quoting MS AG that prosecutor misrepresented the law and time to get state law updated to conform to SCOTUS 1994 ruling…NY's law apparently hasn't been updated either according to the article
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/12/04/1349421/-Missouri-AG-Confirms-Michael-Brown-Grand-Jury-Misled-by-St-Louis-DA?detail=email
I watch Lawrence everynight.
I am so sick of the police getting away with MURDER!!!! It is out and out disgusting the way these GJ’s are “handing down” NO BILL OF INDICTMENT!!! They are not being given all the evidence, be led down a garden path by the prosecutors, having blinders on, or just out and out in collusion with the cops!!!
It’s disgusting and humiliating that the so-called “justice system” is so rigged FOR the cops!!!!!
I still don't understand how they could refuse to indict after seeing the video, no matter what the DA told them to do. I have been on jury duty three times, and never have I been told by the prosecutor what I should decide. I would not have even if it had happened.
From Wikipedia:
"Probable Cause" not guilt or innocence.
To me, having seen the video in the Eric Garner case, there is probable cause, at least enough to go to full trial. It then would be up to the prosecutor and the rest of the court to find, in open court, the guilt or innocence of the accused.
In the Michael Brown case, I understand that information that Brown was 148 feet away from Wilson when he was shot and killed has shown up, but not until after the grand jury verdict.
In both cases, there seems to be abuse of prosecutorial power in that it appears that both prosecutors manipulated the grand juries. I also believe that there is systemic racism going against Brown and Garner and fueling the grand juries.
Something drastic has to happen to make the courts and the legal system more fair.
Thanks all. Just woke up. Feeling ill.
Edie, perhaps the prosecutor did not show the grand jury the video.
He probably didn't!