My Moral Compass | Eric Garner

The recent event of the killing of Eric Garner by a NYPD cop has caused a great deal of controversy throughout the country. It has lead to protests and newfound distrust of the police. This article examines the facts of the the Eric Garner case. How did this happen? What are the moral implications of how the police do their job and how they treat individuals of color?

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BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

Eric Garner was a 43-year-old, 6'3'' 350 pound man. He had a wife and six children and was said to be a peacekeeper by various bystanders. Yet, Garner had an active criminal record: He had been arrested 30 times since 1980 for various reasons such as assault, resisting arrest, grand larceny, driving without a license, selling untaxed cigarettes, and marijuana possession. However, he believed he was falsely accused of many of these cases. In addition, the New York Times reported that he "recently told lawyers at Legal Aid that he intended to take all the cases against him to trial." Even more, in 2007 he filed a complaint of a police officer accusing him of "digging his finger in my rectum in the middle of the street." Thus, the facts are that Garner had multiple run-ins with the police, but he believed he was falsely accused of many of these cases.

Officer Daniel Pantaleo was a 29-year-old officer for the NYPD. Before this event he was previously accused of falsely arresting and abusing two men. This was brought to attention in two civil rights lawsuits in 2013. Thus, Pantaleo was a young officer who had a record of falsely accusing citizens of crimes.

THE FACTS OF THE EVENT:

On July 17, 2014 in Staten Island Eric Garner stood in front of a beauty supply store in the Thomkinsville neighborhood of Staten Island. According to bystanders Garner previously broke up a fight nearby. His friend Ramsey Orta who filmed the event was standing close to Garner. According to these bystanders as well, Garner brought attention to himself by a few police officers because he broke up this fight. Mainly, the police focused on Garner because they believed he was illegally selling untaxed cigarettes. The police verbally accused Garner of selling cigarettes illegally, and Garner responded to this by explaining his innocence. Garner explained how he was not doing anything wrong and that the police always seem to falsely accuse him of crimes. He asked the police to leave him alone, and he talked back to the police. The police decided to arrest Garner for this crime.

Officer Pantaleo went to handcuff Garner for this crime. When Officer Pantaleo went to Garner's back to handcuff him Garner resisted arrest and said, "Don't touch me please." After that Pantaleo pulled Garner to the ground. On the way down Garner slammed a glass window. It is ambiguous whether Pantaleo used a chokehold or a headlock to pull Garner to the ground. While lying on the sidewalk after being pulled to the ground Pantaleo kept his arms around Garner's neck. Here on the ground, Garner repeated the famous words "I can't breathe" 11 times. The event can be watched in the YouTube videos below.
After Pantaleo released Garner, the police officers believed that he was stable and breathing. Specifically, Sargent Kizzy Adnoi reported that "The perpetrator's condition did not seem serious at the time and he did not appear to get worse." Since the police believed that Garner was stable, they did not perform CPR. Yet, Garner was unresponsive, and one of the officers consoled Garner and told him to breathe. Even more, when the EMT's and paramedics arrived, no help was given immediately. They did not automatically put him in a stretcher or perform emergency medical aid.

According to the police Garner had a heart attack on the way to the hospital and died an hour after that. The doctor said that Garner's cause of death was "compression of neck and chest and positioning during the time of physical restraint by police."

After the event Pantaleo was stripped of his badge and gun by the NYPD. The EMT's and paramedics who responded to the scene were suspended without pay. Additionally, a few protests took place before the decision to indict or not indict Pantaleo was made. Al Sharpton scheduled a peaceful protest in July, and WalkRunFly productions carried out a peaceful protest of poetry in Times Square.

On December 3 a Grand Jury of 23 members decided not to indict Officer Pantaleo. The jury's demographics included 14 white members and 9 non-white members, of which at least 5 were black. This decision was made a few weeks after the decision to not indict Officer Darren Wilson from Ferguson was made.

Some of the public was outraged after the Grand Jury decided not to indict Pantaleo. This led to many peaceful protests and "die ins" in both Boston and New York City. A "die in" is a protest in which the protestors lay on the ground simulating death. Similarly, many public figures have responded with their opinions to this decision. To start, Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York City called the death a "terrible tragedy." President Obama said that this death and outcome demonstrated this issue as an "American Problem" (Huffington Post). Former president George W. Bush said this event was "hard to understand" (Politico).

A few NBA and NFL players wore T-Shirts that said, "I can't breathe" during warm-ups. Also, this event caused the police commissioner William Bratton to carry out a review of the NYPD.

Although many politicians and public figures denounced this event, some believed that Pantaleo was carrying out his duty as a cop. For example former San Jose Police Officer Phillip White recently tweeted, "Threaten me or my family and I will use my God given and law appointed right and duty to kill you. #CopsLivesMatter." This tweet created controversy.

Since our country has become extremely partisan in the recent decade, basically every event has turned into a partisan issue including this one. Generally the Republicans have believed that Garner is at fault on this issue because he is a criminal. On the other hand, the Democrats have generally had the opinion that the police force is at fault for this event. This event has become part of the partisan climate of our country.

This event has brought unrest all over the country. I believe that Eric Garner did not deserve to die. I also believe that the police did not respond accordingly to the situation and that the issue of race is prevalent in this event. I empathize with the hard job that police officers face every day and understand that mistakes happen. Yet, at the same time Eric Garner should be alive right now. Selling illegal cigarettes should not be a death sentence.

Many news reporters have said that they believe the same event would occur if Garner were white. To clarify, most of the news reporters with this belief have been Republicans. I disagree with that belief. I contend that police brutality occurs disproportionately towards Blacks. In the acts of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and Eric Garner, I believe that these events would be different if these men were not black. Race does play a substantial role in police treatment of citizens, although it is not the sole factor. Of course, most officers are not racists, and although none are probably intentionally racist, I still believe this is a prevalent issue.

In addition to the event as a partisan issue, many Republican news stations including Fox News have sided with the police regarding this issue. They have contended that Garner was responsible for his death because he was a criminal. Also, they have said that his obesity killed him rather than the impact from the chokehold with Pantaleo. These news outlets have blamed all other factors for Garner's death such as his obesity and crime while not even mentioning Pantaleo as a cause. Although, Garner may have been a criminal who was obese, it is clear that Pantaleo is responsible for his dead. He died from compression to the neck and windpipe, and that compression was not caused by his obesity. Yes, if this chokehold was performed on a less obese man, he may not have died. But, we cannot say that it is okay that Garner died from the chokehold due to his obesity. That is simply outrageous.

I believe that the structure of the criminal justice system poses an issue in cases like this one. The prosecutors are biased to the police whom they work with, and thus sway the jury to not make an indictment. This is an issue that deserves exploration.

One of the most discussed controversies in this case is whether or not Pantaleo used a chokehold or a headlock. Chokeholds are a violation of the NYPD while headlocks are not. The NYPD defines a chokehold, "A chokehold shall include, but is not limited to any pressure to the throat or windpipe, which may prevent or hinder breathing or reduce intake of air." You can decide from the video whether Pantaleo used a chokehold or not. I personally believe that he did. Also, the NYPD put into effect that "choke hold will ONLY be used if the officer's life is in danger or some other person's life is in danger." Again you can decide whether anyone's life was in danger in the situation, but I believe that there were no lives in danger. Thus, the force that Pantaleo put on Garner is deemed lethal and unnecessary, and it is the reason Garner is 6 feet under now. Still we must keep in mind that Pantaleo has an extremely hard job and while he was using the chokehold, he did not intend for Garner to die. Even though he did not intend for Garner to die, that does not change the facts. We must prevent against this in the future. Police should be trained to only use force in necessary situations.

Since this event was taped for the public to see, we can clearly see what happened. There is less ambiguity in this case in comparison to the Ferguson case. Yet, the grand jury still decided not to indict Officer Pantaleo. This makes me believe that the new idea of arming cops with cameras seems unnecessary after this case. We have the tape of the event clear for the jury, and they still decide not to indict him. So why is this? As I discussed briefly in a previous paragraph, it is because the prosecutors who highly influence the juries are biased towards the police officers, their co-workers. This leads for police officers who have committed crimes to get off easy because their co-workers sway the jury to side with the police officers.

Our country needs to begin to face the fact that police brutality and racism are both issues. Racism is still a relevant issue in our society that contributes to biased police brutality. Of course, although most police officers are not racist, racist police brutality does exist. This is a complex issue that runs much deeper than the Garner case alone. In addition, police officers have one of the hardest jobs on the planet, and they risk their lives every day for the good of society. Our society should empathize with both sides of this issue so we can understand that #BlackLivesMatter and #CopLivesMatter. It does not have to be one or the other. Every life should matter. This being true, we still need to explore the fact that racist police brutality exists, and it is costing the lives of some Americans. We need change in the police force to prevent this event from happening again. Additionally, the fact that juries are biased towards police on trial does pose an issue of the police officers received a fair and impartial trial. We need to raise awareness that both of these issues are problems in our society.

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Eric Garner

Author: Stephanie Osber

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