Dogged Police Harassment And Violence - 2152 Words

Sometime past three o’clock, on a warm July afternoon, Eric Garner stood in front of a Staten Island beauty supply store allegedly selling what are commonly referred to as â€Å"Loosies† - untaxed cigarettes usually sold for between ten cents and a quarter. Hulking, black, with a broad chest, the forty-three-year-old grandfather was often described by friends as the â€Å"neighborhood peacemaker†; an amiable giant endowed with a generous, congenial attitude. With his back arched against the store’s window, he is swiftly circled by a band of NYPD officers. At first the interaction remains unremarkable; one officer, as the video reveals, can be seen indifferently chewing gum as Garner explains his predicament to the small congregation of cops.†¦show more content†¦He flinches in surprise, attempting to evade the officers’ forceful grasp. Yet rather than de-escalating the conflict - or giving the visibly shaken Garner a chance to regain compos ure - Officer Daniel Pantaleo’s muscular arms lock his neck in a chokehold. Pantaleo constricts him with the authoritarian zeal of Judge Dredd, despite his desperate pleas for air. â€Å"I can’t breathe...I can’t breathe,† Garner begs, his consciousness slipping as the officer ceases to relent. For another 23 tortuous seconds, even after Garner falls to the ground, the officer continues to clench his neck, squeezing the life out of a man who two minutes prior was quietly idling in front of a store. When the officer finally subdues his boa-like constraint, the severity of Garner’s condition becomes evident: he lays lifeless on the sidewalk, prolonged oxygen deprivation having caused a massive heart attack. The events of the now infamous video have evolved to become a symbol of police brutality; a rallying cry for those disaffected with our justice system. Garner’s last words: â€Å"I can’t breathe†, have been adopted as the mantra of recent demonstrations. More importantly, unlike the shooting death of Michael Brown, whose case was enshrouded in a fog of conflicting witnesses and forensic reports, Garner’s death serves as an irrefutable, visceral testament to the violent excesses of law enforcement. Although the Grand Jury investigating Pantaleo’s conduct