Lessons from NYPD Choke-Hold Death of Eric Garner

Let's get the story straight here.  Wikipedia explains the incident, as does this video. On 17 July 2014 Negro (*) Eric Garner, obese (300+ pounds) and otherwise seriously unhealthy with a bad heart, diabetes, and asthma, provided for his family by means that included peddling contraband cigarettes.  Staten Island, NY, Police confronted Garner who denied he had sold any cigarettes.  An eye witness said Garner had just broke up a fight.  Police claimed merchants had complained about his selling the cigarettes in front of their stores.  Police tried to arrest him, Garner resisted, 8-year veteran officer pantanleo wrestled Garner down with a choke-hold, other cops put pressure on his chest to hold him down, Garner  complained repeatedly that he could not breathe, and Garner went unconscious and died shortly thereafter.

Garner had known the cops would take him down if he resisted arrest,  he had poor health, and that he risked losing his income opportunities, making his family suffer further hardship, and possibly losing his life in an altercation with police.  But he did it anyway. 

Thus, Garner led himself to his death through unwise decisions and actions.  The police would not have taken him down with a choke-hold if he had not resisted arrest, and the choke-hold would not have killed him had he not grown obese or otherwise neglected to accommodate his poor health. 

The video makes it obvious that Garner had the physical bulk and power to injure policemen if he had started swinging at them or pulled out a concealed weapon as he accelerated his resistance to arrest.  Every policeman in his right mind would use any non-lethal tactic necessary to reduce the danger of serious injury to themselves and to Garner.  To handcuff him, the officers had no choice but to manhandle him, even if they needed to use a choke hold in violation of policy.  To their credit, police did not punch, kick, club, pistol-whip, mace, or tase Garner in their work to subdue him.

The grand jury refused to indict Officer Pantaleo for those reasons.  But he has given up gun and badge and faces police disciplinary action for violating policy with the choke-hold.

Garner's wife said Garner had a non-violent nature, that he had provided for his family, and his death meant someone else would have to provide. She meant she would seek more welfare, of course. As I see it, Garner was a small-time crook who did what he could to get by.  I guess he did other nefarious things in addition to peddling contraband.  And his family lived on or over the edge of welfare, meaning he did not actually provide enough for his family.

What lessons can we learn from this?

1. Do not resist arrest or otherwise to alienate law enforcers, even if one must tolerate some rough stuff in the process, unless  you know that the arrest will result in your death and you have the personal power to escape, and live through it, and remain at large.
   
2. DO speak and behave politely and respectfully to law enforcers, to know your rights and engage in rational dialogue with the police in an effort to minimize the likelihood of becoming a victim of abuse.
3. Do NOT commit crimes.
   
1. Anyone who engages in illegal behaviors should expect to come under scrutiny of law enforcers, particularly if those behaviors alienate others who might report them to the police and ask the police to stop them.
2. Expecting scrutiny includes taking whatever steps necessary to ensure vitality, mobility, good health, and knowledge of law, defense tactics, and escape routes, and "connections" with law enforcers that cause them to look the other way.  Anyone who fails to do that should expect to get arrested, jailed, tried, convicted, imprisoned, and possibly injured or killed in the process.
4. Do not put yourself into harm's way, and if you do, and a terrible fate befalls you, you have only yourself to blame.
5. Maintain your health so you can support your family.
6. Do not marry a spouse or procreate children you cannot fully support, especially if you are stupid.
7. Get a good education while young so you can have a well-paying job or run your own business when you get older.
   

Do you think the Negroes of America have learned the above lessons?  Or have they become more convinced than ever that members of their poorer strata have the right to rob stores, sell contraband, have families they cannot support, and collect welfare; and that the cops pick on them because of prejudice against their race or their their skin color instead of their crimes and bad behavior?  Shouldn't Negro pundits help their people understand and embrace the above numerated lessons instead of always pointing only to Caucasians, prejudice, and bad cops as the problem, and always pretending that Negro victims didn't do anything wrong to warrant what happened to them?

As I see it, Eric Garner violated all of the above commonsense precautions, thereby making himself into a walking time-bomb.

Why discuss this now, months later?  Well, the news media carried stories about how Negroes have become enraged that a grand jury just refused to indict Officer Pantaleo.   Al Sharpton supports Garner's family in their time of sorrow, AND Sharpton and other pundits have rabble-roused against the racial prejudice of cops and grand juries against Negroes.

Since Garner's death, THOUSANDS of other Negroes have died at the hands of Negroes in communities across America from drug deals gone bad, gang violence, family violence, prison violence, and police killing them in the line of duty.  Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson have gone mute about those tragedies and the utter failure of so many Negro families in rearing their children to become honest earners and good citizens.

Readers might avail themselves of this memo by Bill O'Reilly on the subject of Negro homicides and police killings.

--

Bob Hurt            Blog 1 2   f  t   2460 Persian Drive #70 Clearwater, FL 33763 Email Call: (727) 669-5511 Law Studies: Donate   E-Letter Subscribe Learn to Litigate with Jurisdictionary