Eric Garner was an African-American man who served as a horticulturalist at the parks and recreation department of the New York City. He was a family man with a wife and six children. Due to health reasons, Garner quit his job as a horticulturalist and ventured into personal businesses. Eric Garner was not always on the right and he had gotten arrested by the NYPD a couple of times. His charges during these arrests ranged from assault, resisting arrest to selling cigarettes that were not licensed in the streets of New York. In 2014 July 17, Garner was outside a beauty store when some officers from the NYPD showed up and wanted to arrest him. A verbal confrontation ensued as Garner claimed that the officers had time and again tried to arrest him without legal justification (Michael, 2015).
The officers claimed that Garner sold unlicensed cigarettes and was thus liable for arrest and charge at a court of law. Garner did not give in to the call to surrender his arms for cuffing and the officers forcefully handled him. An officer put him on chokehold while another handcuffed him. Garner was then pushed to the sidewalk amid cries that he was not breathing properly. After sometime, it was realized that he was motionless and an ambulance was called (James, 2015). Garner died and the autopsy report by the Examiners from New York Medical City Office stated that the cause of his death was the chokehold. The chokehold had compressed his neck and chest area hindering him from breathing properly. Garner’s case sparked a lot of controversy on the way that the NYPD treated offenders and residents of New York at large.
The use of the chokehold during arrest of unruly offenders had been prohibited (American University, Washington College of Law, 2016) and this made the issue much more controversial. The officers were under no jurisdiction to use the chokehold on Garner and were expected to use other justified means to get him under arrest. According to National Center for Public Policy Research (2014), the officer did not respond to the cries by Garner that he was not breathing but rather ignored him and pushed him further by his face to the sidewalk. After Garner lost consciousness, only one officer appeared to help him by telling him to try and breathe in and out. It goes without say that when the life of a person is at stake, one ought to perform all that’s at their disposal to safeguard it. The officers ought to have performed a CPR to help Garner breath. Al Sharpton was a 60 year old activist of civil rights who fought for justice after the death of Eric Garner.
During the burial of Garner, Al Sharpton called for severe measures on the police officers who had caused the death of Garner. The activist promised not to relent in his pursuit for justice and vowed to mobilize the law abiding citizens of Staten Island to protests that would bring justice to the family of Garner. Al Sharpton coordinated the protests along Bay Street where Garner died. According to Meaghan (2014), about 2500 people participated in the protests and were singing poems and chanting slogans that in the city over the inhumane treatment that led to the untimely death of Eric Garner. The activist claimed that Garner’s death was a homicide to get Garner and his unlicensed cigarettes off the streets of New York. Two NYPD officers were shot dead in Brooklyn protests and the blame was on Sharpton for his vengeful and inciting antics.
References
American University, Washington College of Law. (2016) Criminal Justice Practice and Policy Institute. Accessed from https://www.wcl.american.edu/criminaljustice/ on 27 August 2016
James Vincent. NYPD officers who edited Wikipedia entry on Eric Garner won’t be punished. The Verge, March 17, 2015. Accessed from http://www.theverge.com/2015/3/17/8230569/nypd-wikipedia-edits-eric-garner-no-punishment on 27 August 2016
Meaghan Ellis. (2014). Al Sharpton releases damage control statement following fatal shooting of two NYPD officers, did he ‘get what he wanted?’Inquisitr news worth sharing. Dec 20, 2014. Accessed from http://www.inquisitr.com/1694103/al-sharpton-releases-damage-control-statement-following-fatal-shooting-of-two-nypd-officers-did-he-get-what-he-wanted/ on 27 August 2016
Michael McLaughlin. Family of Eric Garner renews calls for charges against officer who killed him. The HUFFINGTON POST. 14th July, 2015. Accessed from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/07/14/eric-garner-family_n_7797910.html on 27 August 2016
National Center for Public Policy Research. (2014). Eric Garner's Death Is Mourned, Big Government Is Blamed for Tragedy "A Man Died over Cigarettes and Tax Revenue." Accessed from http://www.nationalcenter.org/P21PR-Eric_Garner_120414.html on 27 August 2016
