This case simply doesn’t have the right material to get the left riled up.
This guy is too old, doesn’t represent the thug culture, takes place in NYC (no racists in blue cities /s), and people on the right were out front in condemning this, so there is no political mileage to be made.
Was the author on the GJ? Yeah didn’t think so.
Garner’s pleas suggest that the police used excessive force
I have to reject that. People who are choking cannot talk. Garner spoke repeatedly, saying he couldn't breathe. To me, he was giving evidence that he was breathing.
I think we all know that cops are trained to say "I was in fear for my life" -- that can justify almost any shooting.
Well, crooks aren't dumb. If the crook wants you to get off him, he's apt to say "I can't breathe". That does not mean that he cannot breathe.
Lastly, Garner was an enormous individual. People like that should have an awareness of their situation -- if the cops are hassling you, you have 2 essential choices:
1) Drop to your knees, spread your arms and legs, go flat on the ground, and be ready to be handcuffed.
2) Resist.
There is not in-between option with a guy of that seize. If he's not being 100% submissive, then the cops are going to decide he's resisting. And that isn't going to go well.
you know what... I just watched the video and they only had him in that choke hold for about 12-13 seconds.
The choke hold did not kill him.
Cops should not be required to enforce tax laws. In this case, the police were given no options - they were charged with arresting an individual who was appealing to the public by eliminating excessive taxes for a legal product.
Garner and the cops are victims of an abusive regulation.
D’oh!
Via Weasel Zippers 
2. The police were there because the owner of the property in front of which Garner was attempting to illegally sell loose cigarettes called them to complain about it.
3. Garner physically resisted arrest.
4. Garner had 30 prior arrests. How does someone even get arrested that many times? Obviously, at least some of those were valid, and not just because racist cops felt like giving him a hard time.
5. Garner was quite overweight, diabetic, and asthmatic - all factors which contributed to his death.
6. Don't start nothin', won't be nothin'.
I am by no means saying he deserved to die over this, but the sequence of events that led to his death were entirely his own doing. I have never been handcuffed, or beaten, or otherwise threatened by police. But that may have more to do with the fact that I haven't tried to sell anything illegally, haven't walked down the middle of the street when a cop told me to get on the sidewalk, and haven't strong-arm robbed a convenience store for cheap cigars, than with the fact that I happen to be white.
I’m really torn by this grand jury decision because the Police should not have used the excessive force they did on this victim because the sale of a single cigarette.
Though at the same time the Victim is also responsible because he failed to submit to the officers authority,when the officer told him he was under arrest.
All the Victim had to do was willingly submit and he would have been out of jail in hours instead of dead.
The way I see it the Police should have used a Tazer on this guy as soon as he started to resist.Though,There is no guarantee he would have survived that with his health issues.
The bottom line here is that You don’t Resist the Police when you’re placed under arrest.
That said, Why are cops arresting people for selling "illegal" cigarettes? Give him a ticket, tell him to move on, whatever, but this whole mess seemed unnecessary.
Obama has said since he came on the scene that he didn’t like the Constitution because it was too restricting. He wants a Constitution which gives more power to government and less to the people. And if you notice, he has been chipping away at the edges. By castigating law enforcement and the judicial system (Grand Jury)and causing people to loose respect for them is only a first step. Some folks here on FR seem to be part and party of such a movement.Looking back at the past five years you will find other instances whereby he is attacking the Constitution. What say ye!!!
And that's the crux of the matter. In Browns GJ all evidence was allowed. This Prosecutor did not want a true bill so may have kept critical evidence excluded.
How much do you think it costs to run/operate a convenience store in New York on a monthly basis? I would imagine the robbing these business men and women get from the city could contribute to a willingness to demand that the police do something about illegal competition.
The process of arrest is extremely high-stress for all involved, and any physical conflict fast escalates. The guy was committing a crime, had severe health problems, and the process of non-submissive arrest invoked a terminal consequence of those problems.
Two undiscussed points:
1. HE was committing the crime, from which a death (his own) was a consequence. Go look up “felony murder” as a starting point.
2. Interestingly, NOBODY is talking about the autopsy. We don’t know _why_, objectively, he died.
I admire and respect Andrew McCarthy very much but am puzzled why he makes essential his emotional response absent knowledge of the facts as presented to the Staten Island Grand Jury. His and all too many other pundits opinions strike at one of the foundations of the justice system itself.
For those unfamiliar with the NYC system enpanelled grand juries consist of 23 members of the community. Each of the five boroughs has its own District Attorney and Courts.
When the DA presents his case for probable cause against a suspect he must convince a simple majority of the GJ that the evidence and testimony are sufficient to lay charges against the suspect for a trial..
Twelve of twenty three jurors, that’s 50% plus one. Much easier than jurisdictions that have 12 juror GJ systems. It’s the reason that long time New York County DA Robert M. Morganthau made the now legendary statement, “I can indict a ham sandwich before a grand jury”. And one of the reasons that so many big class action suits are filed in the Bronx. Simple demographics.
Fifty percent plus one, not three quarters, not one hundred percent of the Grand jury drawn from citizens of the local jurisdiction but 50% plus one.
Given these odds when a DA can’t convince 12 citizens honest and true that sufficient cause for prosecution and trial it tells me there is no case period, end of story.
For if I can’t trust that panel of 23 of my neighbors then the entire system is in jeopardy and politically motivated persecution becomes possible and anarchy’s whirlwinds start forming.
I may think that a video segment represents the whole story but the Rodney King incident proved that a malicious politically driven media and morally corrupt DA can and do alter our perceptions of reality to accord with the those motives. And since Rodney King the examples continue to grow daily.
As with free speech issues, I may not like the content of some but those protections extend to me if I choose to exercise or need such rights.
It is not possible to overstate the danger of such power released unchained by the constraints of just laws protecting all citizens.
Is this your “Ferguson Moment” Andy? Weak conservatives have been waiting for a chance to beat their breasts for months.