News
Protestors vow to continue demos after no charges in Eric Garner chokehold killing
Chokeholds are prohibited by New York police regulations, but the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, the municipal police union, said the officers involved in the Garner incident had acted within the law.
When the grand jury’s decision was revealed, Garner’s wife told the “Today” show: “I started crying because it’s not fair. It’s not fair. What could they not see? How could they possibly not indict?”
“I felt hopeless like there was nothing left for me to fight for but then I got some encouraging phone calls I felt now that we have some type of hope, some type of justice to be done for my husband,” Esaw Garner said, referring to a promised federal investigation.
The U.S. Justice Department said it was investigating whether Garner’s civil rights had been violated.
On Wednesday night, mostly peaceful protests sprang up throughout Manhattan, including at Grand Central Terminal, Times Square and near Rockefeller Center. Police reported 83 arrests by Thursday morning.
The grand jury’s decision poses the biggest challenge yet for New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, who took office in January promising to repair relations between black New Yorkers and the police department.
Last week, the city of St. Louis saw rioting, burning and looting after a grand jury in Missouri declined to prosecute a white policeman who shot dead unarmed black teenager Michael Brown in the suburb of Ferguson.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder told reporters in Washington that the Justice Department, which is already probing the circumstances of the Missouri shooting, would also examine the Garner case, as well as the local inquiry into it.
Source: Reuters
