NYPD Kills someone, then goes scot-free

 

The big news on everyone’s lips is the death of Eric Garner and the fact that the police officer that killed him has been let free with no indictment in the death or anything surrounding it.

If you don’t know any of the story surrounding this issue, let me catch you up a bit.

On July 17th of 2014, Eric Garner died after New York City police officer Daniel Pantaleo placed him in a choke hold when Eric Garner was resisting arrest.

 

The medical examiner ruled the death a homicide with the police officer directly responsible for it.

 

A few days ago, a grand jury assembled to decide if Pantaleo should be charged with murder returned a verdict of no indictment.

 

This has sparked outrage against the officer, the police department and the justice system in general, because it seemed to be such a clear-cut case.

 

I have seen a lot of misinformation being spread about the case and about eric garner in general, and thought I would present some information that might shed some light on the truth of things.

 

The Truths About Eric Garner

Eric Garner had been arrested before for selling untaxed cigarettes.  It was, in fact, even earlier this year that he had been busted doing it and placed under arrest.

 

The 43 year old was caught under the “broke windows” policy of New York City, which means that low level crimes are given harsh punishments.

According to Rudy Giuliani, who started the program,

“Murder and graffiti are two vastly different crimes. But they are part of the same continuum, and a climate that tolerates one is more likely to tolerate the other.”

 

 

The reason the cops were called to the scene at which Eric Garner was placed in the choke hold was because a fight had broken out between two people.  Eric Garner had just broken up the fight and got everything calmed down when the police showed up.

 

Instead of going to the two people that had been fighting, however, the police started to approach garner, who had, quite literally, done nothing wrong at this point.

 

 

It was at this point that they tried to arrest Garner for selling cigarettes and Eric reisted them.

 

The choke hold was placed on him, and he was heard saying, multiple times, “I can’t breathe.”

 

Pantaleo was the officer that choked him.  This is actually a banned maneuver in NYPD’s rule books, and has ben since the 1990s.  He was, for this offense, stripped of his badge and gun.

 

 

Essentially, not knowing that the man was asthmatic, the choke hold that Pantaleo placed him in led to his death at a hospital a short while later.

 

Four medics and 2 police officers did nothing while he lay there dying.  No CPR was given and no lifesaving measures were taken to help the man out.

 

As I said earlier,a medical examiner ruled the death a homicide.

 

A man ended up videotaping the whole scene, showing everything that happened to Garner and the moments leading up to the attempted arrest and choke hold.

 

The man that recorded these events, ironically, was later put into jail for possession of a weapon, which the grand jury in that case convicted him of.

 

He claims that the reason he was placed in jail is because of the video evidence that he had, but that, of course, is up for some speculation.  It dues seem rather, hmm, odd, though, doesn’t it?

However, the grand jury did NOT convict the police officer in the death of Garner.

 

 

Protests Galore

As you can imagine, a huge amount of protests has sparked because of that decision.

So, here in America right now, we have multiple protests happening in relation to two black men being killed by police officers.

First, the events in Ferguson with Michael Brown, and now in NY with Eric Garner.

In both cases, the police clearly killed the victims, and, in both cases, a jury declined to charge them in relation to it.

There is a lot of doubt in regards to the Michael Brown events.  However, in the case of Eric Garner, there is clear evidence, including eye witness testimony, video taped evidence and the medical examiner all showing that the officer was guilty of killing this man and yet the jury refused to indict.

 

 

Where do I stand on it all?

In the Michael Brown case, as you have probably heard me say, I stand on the side of the police… sort of.

 

Brown was a known thug who had just committed a crime and was attempting to get away with it.

 

In the Eric Garner case, however, I have to side with the evidence.  It clearly shows that the officer did wrong here, and it shows, clearly, that this man would not be dead if it weren’t for the officer’s use of excessive force.

 

Did he homicide?  That is the question that needs to be figured out.

 

Homicide implies a malicious intent, and there has to be Mens rea, or malicious intentions, motivations, behind the death.

 

Was it just accidental in this case?  Probably.

 

I don’t think that Pantaleo had any intentions of getting up that morning and killing a black man that day.

 

However, he did.  And the protestors are right in some of the things they are saying.

 

It DOES seem like the police target blacks more than whites, because that is all you hear, all the time, in the media.

However, the statistics do show that more white people are killed by police each year than blacks.

Don;t get mad at me for saying it.  The statistics don’t lie about things there.

 

It is, however, fair to say that the statistics, when you lok at a percentage value of them, as opposed to a numerical value, there IS an equalization to it.

 

It’s about an even amount overall.

 

At any rate, I think that a lot of things could be said regarding all of this, and a lot of things could be said about the issues that the protestors are trying to shed light on.

 

Obama’s Executive Actions on Cops with Cameras

In a side bit of news, Ovomit recently signed executive orders to get 50,000 video cameras into the hands of police across the nation and the funding opening up for training in their use, as well as training on handling situations better.

 

Will those do any good?

I do think so, but there needs to be a lot more of them.  There are approximately 700,000 police in America.  50,000 cameras are a drop in the bucket.

Every cop needs to wear them.

 

http://benswann.com/apd-investigation-continues-after-officer-who-shot-19-year-old-claimed-third-body-camera-error/

Of course, you will always have cases like that of Jeremy Dear, a police officer in Albuquerque NM, who has had body camera malfunction 3 times now.  Each time, coincidentally, while he was using excessive force.  Including this last time, when he shot and killed a 19 year old woman.

 

 

Ahh well, meanwhile Christmas is coming up, everyone went crazy on Black Friday, as usual, for the “deals” that they got, and the zombie nation of consumerism and ignorance continues on blithely.

 

The bankers have gotta make their money, after all.

 

They don’t have nearly enough, yet.

 

Police Survey : “Will Enforce Unconstitutional Laws”

Some episodes back, I gave out some questions that had been asked of police officers, in a survey conducted by a fellow police officer.

 

In the study, it showed that 72% of police would enforce a law they knew was unconstitutional.

20% had never read the constitution, and 25% of those that had read it didn’t remember anything it contained.

Yet, these are the people who are supposed to stand up for our rights, to defend us from those that would take them away.

People, it’s time to recognize that WE, the people, are the enemy to them.

 

WE are the ones that they watch out for and defend the corporate monkeys from us troublesome beasts of burden.

 

Sure, there are still some good ones out there.  But they sure do seem far and few between.

 

And, whether or not there are good ones, there’s enough bad that the bad ones do, and not enough of the good ones speaking out against it, that it makes no difference anyhow.
We’re still in a whole lot of trouble here, and we really need to help ourselves.

 

No one else is going to do it.

 

Illegal Homeless People

Meantime, we have the homeless being declared illegal, feeding of homeless a violation of the law, and police doing everything they can to break up any means of survival that homeless pep;le have.

 

http://news.yahoo.com/police-breaking-down-huge-california-homeless-camp-151657325.html

In Sam Jose, CA, police and the city have begun destroying an encampment known as “the Jungle” to people in the area.  This is one of the largest homeless encampments in the nation, with hundreds of people living there, trying to survive.

 

Of course, you can’t have that.  They are not doing things “:the normal way”, so they have to be eradicated.

 

Notice, I said,” they have to be eradicated.”   Not, “the problems that got them there have to be eradicated.”

 

Seriously, people, these things re important.

 

I know, from experience, the fact that life can change in an instant, and no matter how well you were prepared, you could be out on the streets with nothing left to your name except the clothes on your back.  If you’re lucky.

 

But instead of taking care of the problems that cause these things, when people do fall into states of poverty and need, they are shoved aside, told to go away, told to “get a job” and that their problems are their own fault for being “lazy and no good.”

 

Keep looking down your nose at people.

 

Keep pointing a finger at people, not realizing that there are 3 pointing right back at you.

 

Keep judging people.  It’s the human way.

 

Right?

 

We have to help ourselves

This is why the aliens won’t help us, people.  We have to help ourselves.

Even if you believe that the second coming is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next year, whatever you have to do something in the moment, in the now.

You can’t wait for a savior.  You have to do something yourself.

It’s as simple as that.

 

Be good to each other.  You know it’s the right thing to do.

 

If you can look at someone in hurt and need and turn away, you have been trained to do that.  You have broken a part of yourself that makes you human.

 

You have broken your compassion.

 

And that, my friends, is something to truly pity.