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Eric Garner

Arrests On Anniversary Of Eric Garner’s Murder

July 19, 2015 Scott Heins, www.gothamist.com , , ,
By Scott Heins in The Gothamist. New York City, NY - Hundreds gathered in both Staten Island and Manhattan Friday to observe the one-year anniversary of Eric Garner's death at the hands of the NYPD. Amid a sea of homemade signs and protest chants that echoed throughout the afternoon and evening, Garner's last words were by far the most prominent—an impassioned, outraged refrain: "I Can't Breathe." As the day wore on, the somber rallies and vigils became defiant protest marches remembering Garner's death and condemning a Staten Island jury's decision not to indict Daniel Pantaleo , the NYPD officer who used an ultimately fatal chokehold while trying to arrest him on suspicion of selling loose cigarettes outside a deli.

Eric Garner’s Death Remembered With A Week Of Actions

July 18, 2015 Ashoka Jegroo, www.wagingnonviolence.org , , , , ,
By Ashoka Jegroo in Waging Non-Violence - After a week of actions, Black Lives Matter activists in New York City are set to march today to commemorate Eric Garner, the Staten Island man who was killed by police last year on July 17. His death — along with that of Mike Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and the ensuing non-indictments of the police officers responsible in both incidents — sparked months of nationwide protests and the birth of the Black Lives Matter movement. Garner’s family recently accepted a $5.9 million settlement from the city, which Comptroller Scott Stringer noted was not an admission of liability. For Garner’s family though, the settlement is far from the end of the fight. “Don’t congratulate us,” Gwen Carr, Garner’s mother, told CNN. “This is not a victory. The victory will come when we get justice.”

Eric Garner Family Reaches Settlement Of $5.9 Million

July 13, 2015 Kelly McLaughlin, www.dailymail.co.uk , , , , ,
By Kelly McLaughlin in The Daily Mail - As the family of Eric Garner awaits closure a year after the father-of-six's untimely death, the police officer who put the 43-year-old in a fatal chokehold said that he can't wait to get back on the job. Though he's been stripped of his gun and is receiving death threats, 30-year-old Daniel Pantaleo wants to keep working for the New York City police, his lawyer said. 'The unbelievable part is this has not soured him one bit on doing law enforcement,' his lawyer Stuart London told the New York Daily News. 'It hasn't diminished his desire to help the citizens of this city.' Garner's widow, however, is enraged that there is even a possibility Pantaleo could get his job back.

The Fight Over Eric Garner Grand Jury Records Continues

June 17, 2015 Christopher Mathias, www.huffingtonpost.com , , ,
By Christopher Mathias in Huffington Post - Nearly a year after Eric Garner died at the hands of police, an appeals court Tuesday heard oral arguments over whether to unseal records from the grand jury investigation into his death. A panel of four justices with the Appellate Division of the state Supreme Court grilled lawyers from three civil rights groups, as well as a lawyer from the office of New York City Public Advocate Letitia James, over why there might be a “compelling and particularized” need to release the records. Despite video evidence showing New York Police officer Daniel Pantaleo putting Garner into a prohibited chokehold during an arrest for selling untaxed cigarettes in Staten Island last July, a grand jury in December declined to indict Pantaleo.

Court Decides To Keep Eric Garner Grand Jury Secret

March 21, 2015 NYCLU, www.nyclu.org , , ,
In response to a Staten Island judge’s decision to keep secret records from the Grand Jury which failed to indict an NYPD officer in the death of Eric Garner, the New York Civil Liberties Union issued the following statement. The NYCLU in December petitioned the court to release to the public the Grand Jury’s transcript, as well as the evidence presented and instructions the jury was given. Judge William E. Garnett rejected requests from the NYCLU, the Legal Aid Society, the public advocate’s office, The New York Post and the NAACP .

Lawsuit Seeks Disciplinary History Of Eric Garner Killer

February 27, 2015 Barbara Ross and Dareh Gregorian, www.nydailynews.com , , ,
The Civilian Complaint Review Board should reveal the disciplinary history of the police officer who put Eric Garner in an apparent chokehold, court papers say. The Legal Aid Society has filed suit to force the CCRB to turn over information it might have about Daniel Pantaleo, the officer whose takedown of Garner led to his death on Staten Island last year. “Our city needs to know if the systems of police oversight failed to prevent Garner's death by failing to deter an officer with a history of excessive force,” the Manhattan Supeme Court suit says. The CCRB has denied the Legal Aid Society’s requests for the info, saying it’s prevented from doing so for legal and privacy reasons.

Protesters At SCOTUS Over Garner Grand Jury Records

February 6, 2015 Eddie D'Anna, www.silive.com , ,
A group of protesters have gathered outside state Supreme Court in St. George, where oral arguments are scheduled Thursday on petitions to release the Eric Garner grand jury records. The protesters -- about two dozen in number as of 9:30 -- are chanting "I can't breathe," and holding signs calling for the record to be made public. The New York Civil Liberties Union, the Legal Aid Society, Public Advocate Letitia James, the New York Post, and the Staten Island branch and the state conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People have asked the court to release more information about the case, including the grand jury transcripts, evidence presented, and instructions given to the grand jury.

Eric Garner Memorial Burns Down In NYC

January 21, 2015 RT, www.rt.com , ,
A makeshift memorial built in the Staten Island, New York at the spot where Eric Garner died at the hands of law enforcement last year, burned down on Monday evening. Preliminary reports suggest a candle started the blaze. According to the New York Post, the Staten Island memorial caught fire late on Monday, which was also Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Police sources told the paper that a candle was believed to have accidentally fallen and burned down the memorial. “Evil set my dad’s memorial on fire tonight, but cant erase his legacy,” Erica Garner, the daughter of the late New Yorker, wrote on Twitter. “Rebuild 2morrow.”

NAACP Seeks Non-Staten Island Judge Re Grand Jury Records

January 16, 2015 Jan Somma-Hammel, www.silive.com , , ,
The Staten Island branch and the state conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People want the decision on whether to release the Eric Garner grand jury record moved off Staten Island. The NAACP filed a petition Friday seeking to disqualify state Supreme Court Justice William E. Garnett, who was assigned the case, from ruling on it, and requested it be handled by a justice in one of the other four boroughs. "We believe that the process should be taken out of Richmond County," said James I. Meyerson, a lawyer for the New York State Conference of the NAACP. "The perception of integrity and fairness has been compromised, in our view."

Report: NYPD Too Quick To Choke, Not Punished

January 14, 2015 J. David Goodman, www.nytimes.com , ,
The first investigation by New York City’s police inspector general includes the finding that in several cases where officers were found to have used a chokehold, the banned maneuver was the officer’s initial physical response to verbal resistance. Headed by Philip K. Eure, who was hired in May, the inspector general’s office examined the circumstances and the disciplinary actions that resulted in 10 confrontations between officers and suspects from 2009 to June 2014 in which a separate oversight agency verified that a chokehold had been used by an officer. In each instance, the agency, the Civilian Complaint Review Board, recommended stiff discipline. However, in the cases that have been decided so far, officers were given little or no punishment by the Police Department.

Officials Ban Die-Ins At Grand Central Station

January 10, 2015 Alyssa Figueroa, www.alternet.org , , ,
On Tuesday, New York City’s Metropolitan Transit Authority announced it would no longer permit die-ins at Grand Central Terminal. Since the failure to indict the police officer who killed Eric Garner, protesters have been participating in die-ins at the Terminal nearly every night. This sort of demonstration has become an increasingly popular tactic of the Black Lives Matter movement, in which protesters raise awareness of racist police violence by lying down to symbolize its end result: the death of people of color. “They were happening on a regular basis since the Eric Garner non-indictment,” said Aaron Donovan, spokesman for the MTA. “Not exactly nightly, but almost nightly.”

Judge Could Decide To Release Eric Garner Grand Jury Documents

January 6, 2015 Jonathan Allen, www.Reuters.com , , , ,
A New York judge will hear arguments later this month whether to publicly release the records of a grand jury hearing in the case of an unarmed black man killed after a policeman put him in a chokehold while arresting him for peddling loose cigarettes. After an unusually lengthy session lasting nine weeks, the grand jury voted in December not to indict the police officer, Daniel Pantaleo, for his role in the asphyxiation death of Eric Garner on a Staten Island sidewalk last summer. Captured on video, Garner's repeated cries of "I can't breathe!" as Pantaleo holds him by his neck have become a slogan for protesters at rallies across the United States who accuse police forces of being hostile towards black citizens.

Protesters Mark New Year With ‘Black Lives Matter’ Marches

January 2, 2015 , , , ,
Protesters from the East to West coasts of the US ushered in the New Year with ‘Black Lives Matter’ marches against police brutality. In St Louis demonstrators tried to take over a police station, demanding that the “occupiers” be “removed from power.” In a letter addressed to St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson and all other “occupiers of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department,” protesters announced in August they were evicting them from the building for a range of alleged offenses, including police brutality and transforming the police department into a “militarizing occupying force.” A grand jury’s decision not to indict Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Ferguson, Missouri teen Michael Brown last month sparked a nationwide protest movement against excessive police force. Just over a week later, a grand jury in Staten Island opted not to indict New York Police in the chokehold death of Eric Garner, bringing the slogan “I can’t breathe” to national attention. The movement has inspired similar protests against police brutality abroad.

Time Person Of The Year Runner-Up: Ferguson Protesters

December 27, 2014 Alex Altman, www.time.com , , , , , ,
Activists are putting some hope in Washington: the Department of Justice hasopened separate civil rights probes into the Ferguson police force and Garner’s death. In Ferguson, voter-registration drives are under way ahead of April’s city council elections. And the struggle has spread. On Dec. 3, after protesting the Garner grand jury decision at the federal courthouse in downtown St. Louis, Elzie glanced down at her phone. It was lighting up with tweets and texts tracking the night’s arrests, as well as updates from the demonstrations in New York. Like many in Ferguson, she was heading there the next day to join them.

NYC To Try Settling Suit With Eric Garner’s Family

December 27, 2014 Associated Press, www.bigstory.ap.org , , ,
New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer will attempt to negotiate a settlement of the $75 million civil rights claim brought forth by Eric Garner's family. If an agreement is reached, it would avoid what could be a long trial in federal court. And if a settlement is pursued now, it would also keep Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration out of the process. Officials with the comptroller's office said Wednesday that the push is part of Stringer's strategy to settle major civil rights claims before lawsuits are even filed. It was not clear that a settlement would be reached.
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