Tag: Eric Garner

Sergeant in Eric Garner death charged departmentally

I don’t know if this is good or bad, but why does it take years? That’s what’s so f*cked up about police discipline. And these charges were placed only, 18 months later, to beat the statute of limitations. The story in the Times.

Garner’s Death

I don’t have much to say because I wasn’t sitting on the grand jury. I have no new information. Apparently the good citizens of Staten Island have spoken. From the Daily News: After four months of reviewing the evidence, a majority on the panel concluded there was not enough there to charge Pantaleo with manslaughter,…
Read more

Bootlegging: for cigarettes, alive and well in New York City

Story in the New York Times: The toothpick pressed a hidden button that released a large magnet that kept a secret compartment locked. Deputy Davis lifted the front of the row of shelves like you would the trunk of a small car, and inside were rows and rows, all different brands, of contraband. Not narcotics…
Read more

How to arrest a very large man who doesn’t want to go

Telling officers what not to do doesn’t tell them what they should do. And it’s never going to look pretty. That doesn’t make it wrong. Here’s my op-ed in today’s New York Daily News: If you’re a cop, how do you cuff a 6-foot-tall, 350-pound man who doesn’t want to go to jail? Most arrests…
Read more

I stand corrected

The medical examiner’s office says Eric Garner was murdered. To wit: “compression of neck (chokehold), compression of chest and prone positioning during physical restraint by police.” Asthma, heart disease, diabetes, and obesity were contributing factors. His death has been ruled a homicide, and presumably we’re going to be in for a Staten Island trial with…
Read more

Is Selling Untaxed Cigarettes Now A Capital Offense?

So asks W. James Antle III in the Daily Caller. The answer is no, even with death of Eric Garner. But it is an arrestable offense. And that’s a problem for police. It should be a problem for society. But people love passing stupid laws and then getting upset with police for enforcing them.

The chokehold that wasn’t?

Not surprisingly, the preliminary autopsy report in the death of Eric Garner shows, showsthat the “deadly encounter Thursday did not damage his windpipe or neck bones.” Why is the not surprising? Because I’m still not convinced there was any chokehold at all. It certainly did not happen when Mr. Garner was taken down. There may…
Read more

If you can say, “I can’t breath”…

The first thing that jumps to mind in the death of Eric Garneris that somebody who is repeatedly saying “I can’t breath” is, in fact, breathing. It’s a basic rules of choking, first aid, and well, the way we speak. [Update: Seems I’m probably very wrong about this.] Also, I’m no expert in chokeholds (because…
Read more