No charges for NYPD officers accused in Eric Garner chokehold death case

Mr. Garner with his children, in an undated family photograph. Image courtesy National Action Network.


Mr. Garner with his children, in an undated family photograph. Image courtesy National Action Network.

A grand jury in Staten Island, NY “has voted not to bring criminal charges against the white New York City police officer at the center of the Eric Garner case,” reports the New York Times.

The decision was reached on Wednesday after months of testimony including from the officer, Daniel Pantaleo, who used a chokehold to restrain Mr. Garner, an unarmed black man who died after a confrontation. It came less than two weeks after a grand jury in Ferguson, Mo., declined to bring charges against a white officer who fatally shot an unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown.

The fact that these legal outcomes are not surprising does not make them any less outrageous. It makes them more so.

Still from eyewitness video of NYPD officers administering chokehold on Eric Garner, who later died.


Still from eyewitness video of NYPD officers administering chokehold on Eric Garner, who later died.