Cities across US see protests over choke death ruling
Protests have erupted across New York and in US cities from Georgia to California after a white police officer was cleared over the chokehold death of an unarmed black man.
New York City police said more than 60 people have been arrested, most for disorderly conduct.
The decision yesterday by the Staten Island grand jury not to indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo heightened tensions that have simmered in the city since the July 17 death of Eric Garner.
The case has drawn comparisons with the deadly police shooting in Ferguson, Missouri.
A video shot by an onlooker and widely viewed on the internet showed the 43-year-old Mr Garner telling a group of police officers to leave him alone as they tried to arrest him.
Mr Pantaleo responds by wrapping his arm around Mr Garner’s neck in what appears to be a chokehold, which is banned under NYPD policy.
The heavyset Mr Garner, who had asthma, was heard repeatedly gasping: “I can’t breathe.”
A second video surfaced that showed police and paramedics appearing to make no effort to revive Mr Garner while he lay motionless on the ground. He later died at a hospital.
In the neighbourhood where he died, people reacted with angry disbelief to the grand jury decision and chanted “I can’t breathe” and “hands up – don’t choke”.
In Manhattan, demonstrators lay down in Grand Central Terminal, walked through traffic on the West Side Highway and blocked the Brooklyn Bridge.
Hundreds of people converged on the heavily secured area around the annual Rockefeller Centre Christmas tree lighting with a combination of professional-looking signs and hand-scrawled placards reading “black lives matter” and “fellow white people, wake up”.
“This fight ain’t over, it just begun,” said Mr Garner’s widow Esaw.
The demonstrations were largely peaceful, in contrast to the widespread arson and looting that accompanied the decision nine days earlier not to indict the white officer who shot dead Michael Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old.
Staten Island district attorney Daniel Donovan said the grand jury found “no reasonable cause” to bring charges. It could have considered a range of charges, from murder to a lesser offence such as reckless endangerment.
“I am actually astonished based on the evidence of the videotape and the medical examiner, that this grand jury at this time wouldn’t indict for anything,” said a lawyer for Mr Garner’s family, Jonathan Moore.
US attorney Eric Holder said federal prosecutors would conduct their own investigation of Mr Garner’s death on July 17 as officers were attempting to arrest him for selling untaxed cigarettes on the street.
The New York Police Department is also undertaking an internal probe that could lead to administrative charges against Mr Pantaleo, who remains on desk duty.
President Barack Obama said yesterday evening that the grand jury decision underscores the need to strengthen trust and accountability between communities and law enforcement.
In his first public comments on the death, Mr Pantaleo said he prays for Mr Garner’s family and hopes they accept his condolences.
Police union officials and Mr Pantaleo’s lawyer argued that the officer used a move taught by the police department, not a banned manoeuvre, because Mr Garner was resisting arrest. They said his poor health was the main reason he died.
His family has planned a news conference later with civil rights leader Reverend Al Sharpton.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio cancelled his planned appearance at the Christmas tree lighting to hold a news conference at a Staten Island church.
“Today’s outcome is one that many in our city did not want,” he said. “Yet New York City owns a proud and powerful tradition of expressing ourselves through non-violent protest.”
