Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

11 Facts About the Eric Garner Case the Media Won’t Tell You
FrontPage Magazine ^ | December 5, 2014 | Jim Meyers

Posted on 12/05/2014 5:33:01 AM PST by SJackson

Reprinted from Newsmax.com.

Sources in the mainstream media expressed outrage after a grand jury declined to indict a New York City policeman in the death of Eric Garner, but there are 11 significant facts that many of them have chosen to overlook:

1. There is no doubt that Garner was resisting an arrest for illegally selling untaxed cigarettes. Former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik put it succinctly: “You cannot resist arrest. If Eric Garner did not resist arrest, the outcome of this case would have been very different,” he told Newsmax. “He wouldn’t be dead today.

“Regardless of what the arrest was for, the officers don’t have the ability to say, ‘Well, this is a minor arrest, so we’re just going to ignore you.’”

2. The video of the July 17 incident clearly shows Garner, an African-American, swatting away the arms of a white officer seeking to take him into custody, telling him: “Don’t touch me!”

3. Garner, 43, had history of more than 30 arrests dating back to 1980, on charges including assault and grand larceny.

4. At the time of his death, Garner was out on bail after being charged with illegally selling cigarettes, driving without a license, marijuana possession and false impersonation.

5. The chokehold that Patrolman Daniel Pantaleo put on Garner was reported to have contributed to his death. But Garner, who was 6-foot-3 and weighed 350 pounds, suffered from a number of health problems, including heart disease, severe asthma, diabetes, obesity, and sleep apnea. Pantaleo’s attorney and police union officials argued that Garner’s poor health was the main cause of his death.

6. Garner did not die at the scene of the confrontation. He suffered cardiac arrest in the ambulance taking him to the hospital and was pronounced dead about an hour later.

7. Much has been made of the fact that the use of chokeholds by police is prohibited in New York City. But officers reportedly still use them. Between 2009 and mid-2014, the Civilian Complaint Review Board received 1,128 chokehold allegations.

Patrick Lynch, president of the New York City Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, said: “It was clear that the officer’s intention was to do nothing more than take Mr. Garner into custody as instructed, and that he used the takedown technique that he learned in the academy when Mr. Garner refused.”

8. The grand jury began hearing the case on Sept. 29 and did not reach a decision until Wednesday, so there is much testimony that was presented that has not been made public.

9. The 23-member grand jury included nine non-white jurors.

10. In order to find Officer Pantaleo criminally negligent, the grand jury would have had to determine that he knew there was a “substantial risk” that Garner would have died due to the takedown.

11. Less than a month after Garner’s death, Ramsey Orta, who shot the much-viewed videotape of the encounter, was indicted on weapons charges. Police alleged that Orta had slipped a .25-caliber handgun into a teenage accomplice’s waistband outside a New York hotel.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: ericgarner; garner
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061 next last
To: SJackson

6. Garner did not die at the scene of the confrontation. He suffered cardiac arrest in the ambulance taking him to the hospital and was pronounced dead about an hour later.

...

I would like to see a source for that.


21 posted on 12/05/2014 6:17:20 AM PST by Moonman62 (The US has become a government with a country, rather than a country with a government.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SJackson

In the short video I have seen, there are a dozen officers around. It would be interesting to know if there was a call and that is who responded, or if this situation built over time. Seems kinda Rodney King-ish to me. The video showed part of the situation way overboard, but in context it wasn’t as bad.

At least that is my understanding.

I used to watch some MMA, and some of those guys could make another guy tap in just a few seconds. Others could try but never get a guy to tap or pass out. I doubt the cop could choke the guy out in the 15 seconds that his hands were near the guys throat. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t want to be choked for 15 seconds, but I find it hard to believe it killed the guy.


22 posted on 12/05/2014 6:18:12 AM PST by LearnsFromMistakes (Yes, I am happy to see you. But that IS a gun in my pocket.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SJackson

7. Much has been made of the fact that the use of chokeholds by police is prohibited in New York City. But officers reportedly still use them. Between 2009 and mid-2014, the Civilian Complaint Review Board received 1,128 chokehold allegations.

...

Pantaleo didn’t use a chokehold. He used a wrestling move taught at the police academy. It wasn’t until Garner almost forced him through a glass window that he got his left arm up around Garner’s neck. Pantaleo explained all this to the grand jury which is why he wasn’t indicted. The coroner didn’t find any evidence of choking either.


23 posted on 12/05/2014 6:20:49 AM PST by Moonman62 (The US has become a government with a country, rather than a country with a government.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: LearnsFromMistakes

In the short video I have seen, there are a dozen officers around.

...

Most of those officers arrived after the arrest took place. Look at the video again, and you’ll see a police car arriving with its siren on. That’s when the two officers got out their cuffs and began the arrest.


24 posted on 12/05/2014 6:23:46 AM PST by Moonman62 (The US has become a government with a country, rather than a country with a government.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: Leaning Right

I find fact #7 to be downright bizarre. The author seems to be saying that the cop used an illegal chokehold, but it should be excused because the chokehold was “learned in the academy.”

...

It wasn’t a chokehold. See my post #23.


25 posted on 12/05/2014 6:27:05 AM PST by Moonman62 (The US has become a government with a country, rather than a country with a government.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: ExNewsExSpook
There is yet another possibility:

(d) The incident happened way too fast for the supervising officer to properly react. The sergeant is not like a football referee. The ref has his eyes on the play, ready to call a foul the instant it happens. The Sgt. might have been on her radio, reacting to someone in the crowd, etc.

26 posted on 12/05/2014 6:27:34 AM PST by Leaning Right (Why am I holding this lantern? I am looking for the next Reagan.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: Iscool

7. Much has been made of the fact that the use of chokeholds by police is prohibited in New York City. But officers reportedly still use them.

Prohibited means illegal...And illegal maneuver by the cops...

and that he used the takedown technique that he learned in the academy when Mr. Garner refused.”

But it was illegal...

...

Chokeholds are banned by the police department, they are not illegal. There is no New York statute making them illegal when a police officer is authorized to use force, such as when a person resists arrest.

Regardless, it wasn’t a chokehold as I explain in #23, and as seen in the video if one looks carefully.


27 posted on 12/05/2014 6:32:36 AM PST by Moonman62 (The US has become a government with a country, rather than a country with a government.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: SJackson
Police never over react..... DOG KILL
28 posted on 12/05/2014 6:33:30 AM PST by baddog 219
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SJackson
If Eric Garner did not resist arrest, the outcome of this case would have been very different,” he told Newsmax. “He wouldn’t be dead today.

He still might have had the heart attack.

29 posted on 12/05/2014 6:35:26 AM PST by glorgau
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: AppyPappy
Ooooh...we need PERMISSION.

If you are on someone else's property, yes. AND you know that.

30 posted on 12/05/2014 6:41:11 AM PST by UCANSEE2 (Lost my tagline on Flight MH370. Sorry for the inconvenience.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: AppyPappy

“That’s nice. But there is a video. And he was selling a legal product.”

He was ILLEGALLY selling an otherwise legal product.


31 posted on 12/05/2014 6:41:17 AM PST by vladimir998
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: SJackson

12. Black female Police sergeant Kizzy Adoni supervized the fatal arrest of Eric Garner. Sgt Adonis made the decision to arrest Eric Garner and at no time did she attempt to de-escalate the situation.


32 posted on 12/05/2014 6:45:09 AM PST by Blood of Tyrants (Good Muslims, like good Nazis or good liberals, are terrible human beings.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SJackson
Facts are irrelevant. /sarc
33 posted on 12/05/2014 6:49:01 AM PST by McGruff (I'm thinkin)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: KeyLargo
There's also the point that he was being directly supervised and personally directed by the black female sergeant whose back can be observed in one of the frames of the video and she did nothing either the stop the takedown or alter the restraint moves that were made on the decedent. There appear to be two different types of “choke holds,” one that's allowed and one that isn't and the officer, under direct, personal supervision by a black female superior, used the allowed hold. All of that makes it very hard to conclude he was even negligent in the takedown he used and, thus, that he had any logical reason to believe the maneuver placed Garner in any reasonable risk of death.
34 posted on 12/05/2014 6:51:21 AM PST by libstripper
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: libstripper

Stop it!

U-R-making - 2 much cents...............


35 posted on 12/05/2014 6:54:43 AM PST by KeyLargo
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: Leaning Right

The hold is a carotid artery move and when applied is very effective. The problem is you learn it in the academy on a passive subject, applying it to a 350 struggling suspect is an entirely different scenario and adds many dynamics (good an bad).


36 posted on 12/05/2014 6:57:16 AM PST by Resolute Conservative
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: SJackson

bump.

Garner was not choked to death.


37 posted on 12/05/2014 7:00:14 AM PST by Responsibility2nd (NO LIBS. This Means Liberals and (L)libertarians! Same Thing. NO LIBS!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Bob

If I purchase a pack of cigarettes and want to sell them individually I should have every right to do so. The gov’t doesn’t need to skim off every personal transaction people make. I don’t get why it’s illegal.


38 posted on 12/05/2014 7:02:00 AM PST by kelly4c (http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/post?id=2900389%2C41#help)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: UCANSEE2

But wasn’t he on the sidewalk...public property?


39 posted on 12/05/2014 7:04:56 AM PST by kelly4c (http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/post?id=2900389%2C41#help)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: UCANSEE2

Is it legal to stand outside a store and sell products without PERMISSION ?

some states it could be a civil violation, unfair competition if the store sells cigarettes. usually a license to peddle is needed for any door to door sales, health permit for food.


40 posted on 12/05/2014 7:13:54 AM PST by rolling_stone (1984)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson