Federal Charges Sought in Chokehold Death of Eric Garner

Baptist minister and activist Al Sharpton was among those protesting in memory of Eric Garner outside the US District Court in Brooklyn on Saturday, just over a year after he was killed by police officers in the New York borough of Staten Island. Several hundred people rallied outside the federal courthouse in Brooklyn on Saturday to demand federal charges in Garner’s death. Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Rev. Al Sharpton, police commanders and Mayor Bill de Blasio issued a call for healing and unity. Also joining us, New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer, who negotiated the almost $6 million settlement deal with the Garner family. Though the incident was caught on video and Garner can clearly be heard saying “I can’t breathe“, a grand jury failed to indict the officer who killed him, sparking nationwide protests. Joining her on stage on a hot and humid Saturday, as rain threatened overhead, were Wanda Johnson, mother of Oscar Grant; Constance Malcolm, mother of Ramarley Graham; Leslie McSpadden, mother of Michael Brown; and Sybrina Fulton, mother of Trayvon Martin. EDUARDO MUNOZ/REUTERS Esaw Garner, (left) widow of Eric Garner, and Emerald Snipes Garner, daughter of Eric Garner arrive to attend a rally near the Brooklyn court.

A grand jury declined to indict the white police officer involved. A federal civil rights investigation enacted after Garner’s death is ongoing.

“There is a reason why we are here in this spot”, Bertha Lewis, the founder of a nonprofit called the Black Institute, told the crowd as she pointed to her right.

He had refused to be handcuffed after being stopped on suspicion of selling loose, untaxed cigarettes on a Staten Island street.

“We are all familiar with the events that led to the death of Eric Garner and the extraordinary impact his passing has had on our City and our nation”, said Stringer. Garner repeated, “I can’t breathe“, over and over before losing consciousness. Coupled with police killings of unarmed black men elsewhere in recent months, Garner’s death became a flashpoint in a national debate about relations between police and minority communities. The settlement “acknowledges the tragic nature of Mr. Garner’s death while balancing my office’s fiscal responsibility to the City,” he said in a statement. But Pantaleo’s lawyer said the officer had used a permissible takedown maneuver known as a seatbelt – not a chokehold, banned under New York Police Department policy. In this instance, the value of a Black man’s life, that of Eric Garner, was worth $5.9 million.