Cigarette taxes further the leftist control agenda,
as does the “white cop killing black man” meme.
And to answer your question, yes, I heard the businesses were protesting that the man was selling “loosies” (single cigs) on the street to avoid the taxes that the businesses were having to pay.
You could make quite a profit, actually, if you undercut the tax and still kept the remaining margin.
I agree that the police officers should have just let him run. He would not have gotten far. If he had been committing a violent crime or had pulled a gun then bringing him down would have been justified. My call would have been man 2.
There is a lot of blame to go around on this one, including Mr. Garner himself. Undoubtedly his lifestyle (obese, petty criminal) contributed to his untimely demise.
Word on the street from my cousins on Staten Island is YES, the store owner called in the complaint.
STUPID NY cig taxes are complicit in this whole thing.
Regards,
When will you see the race pimps like Sharpton protesting these bad laws?
I wonder if Mr Garner had been selling loose dubees , would we be sreaming for the repeal of anti pot laws?
I like Rand Paul, not as a presidential candidate but as a Senator. However this statement sounds like he is pandering to the Abbys. Something I find very unattractive in an elected official.
Actually people with poor health shouldn’t resist arrest. That, and in this case I think a tazer may have been a better option, but I don’t have to apprehend people that large so I’ll just do the right thing and realize we pay police officers to do that for us and I’ll shut up.
More proof that cigarets do kill.
That is exactly my feelings. Why does any one need a “LICENSE” to sell cigarettes? Why does any one need a “LICENSE” to pick up passengers in his own car? Why does any one need a “LICENSE” to rent his house or apartment to visitors of his city, for a day, a week or a month? Oh, these politicians will try and tell you that “IT’S FOR YOUR PROTECTION”. Protection from whom? Let’s all be honest with each other, the only reason these government entities demand a “LICENSE” from any one is “TAXES”. Whether it’s FEDERAL, STATE, CITY, or COUNTY “LICENSES”, it all boils down to “TAXES”. Now, these government entities will never admit it, but the “TAXES” they get from these enterprising individuals, wouldn’t pay the salary of one of these “INVESTIGATORS” for a year. But never mind, they still have “CONTROL” over these enterprising individuals, and every one else for that matter.
If we think outside the box, it isn’t hard to imagine that this regime WANTED the outcome from these grand jury’s and even used criminal federal power and interference to assure the outcome.
It was store owners and the neighbors, because selling loosies is a slum behavior that attracts various low-life customers, such as bums, thuggy teenagers, etc. The police had been asked to step up attempts to handle quality of life issues in the area - that is, minor things that overall contributed to giving the neighborhood a crime-prone and run-down feel that made major crime more likely.
“The question I have is, since Eric Garner was selling cigarettes in an area where there are small businesses, did the owners of those stores called the NYPD in complaint against Mr. Garner?”
By Staten Island Advance
By RYAN LAVIS, JOHN M. ANNESE and MIRA WASSEF
on July 17, 2014 at 10:15 PM, updated July 18, 2014 at 10:02 AM
Witnesses say Garner was trying to break up a fight in front of a beauty supply store on the corner of Bay and Victory. Garner, who was taller than 6 feet and weighed at least 350 pounds, was a fixture in the neighborhood who often sold loose cigarettes for 50 cents each.
One witness, Valencia Griffin, said she saw two men fighting outside of the beauty supply shop at 202 Bay St. in Tompkinsville. Garner, she said, tried to play peacemaker.
“He [the victim] tried to break up the fight — the two guys fighting, they saw the cops coming and walked away,” Ms. Griffin said.
Police sources familiar with the investigation said, though, that the officers were trying to arrest Garner because they saw him selling untaxed cigarettes, which he had done in the past. He was known to police as a fighter, sources said, and had been known to sell drugs, not just cigarettes.
“He absolutely resisted arrest. He took a fighting stance,” one police source said.
Public records show Garner was out on $4,000 bond or $2,000 cash bail — he has three pending criminal cases against him, all involving charges of possession and sale of untaxed cigarettes, from arrests in May, March and last August. In the August case, police also charged him with aggravated unlicensed operation of a vehicle, false personation and marijuana possession.
http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2014/07/differing_accounts_emerge_as_n.html
Rand didn’t you know there was a war fought over a Sugar Tax and another over a tobacco tax.
Come now maybe they do not teach history in Kentucky and in medical school and so forth. where do this politicians get their education from - a cracker jack box or a diploma mill. Rand seems dumber than a box of rocks.
Really soemone died over a cigarette tax. Correct view is the guy strived to avoid paying a tax by selling single cigarettes. yes the others whom selling cigarettes were quite provoked about the sales of single cigarettes. So the guy was a tax evader - what about Marth Stewart was she not a taxe vader too. So this guy was obese and died while in police custody
He didn’t die because of a cigarette tax. He died because he resisted arrest.
The guy was breaking a law.
If a law is not to be enforced, why have the law?
If a law is to be enforce, how much force should be used, if the suspect resists arrest?
==
Unintended consequences apply. Those who are passing laws should have foresight to see what their laws might cause.
“did the owners of those stores called the NYPD”......
That was my suspicion too.
Rand is such a pandering idiot, this guy didn’t die over cigarettes or drugs, or the war on something or other, he died because of something that needs to be fixed in police work at the street level.
This is about blue collar work by armed union men and methods and techniques of routine arrests, not cigarettes.
Next they’ll be coming after video bootleggers and street corner umbrella salesmen!
Yes the owner of the store called the police.