Protesters shout slogans in Times Square on Wednesday after a New York City grand jury decided not to charge a police officer in Eric Garner’s death. ADREES LATIF/REUTERS
Grand juries have become a two-tiered system where regular people are treated wholly differently than those in power, writes Trevor Timm of Freedom of the Press Foundation in a Guardian op-ed.
If you are an ordinary citizen being investigated for a crime by an American grand jury, there is a 99.993% chance you’ll be indicted. Yet if you’re a police officer, that chance falls to effectively nil.
While the Michael Brown tragedy in Ferguson elevated the harsh reality of grand juries to the global stage, no case has driven it home more than Garner’s. A victim who was unarmed and did not resist. A forbidden chokehold according to NYPD rules. Ruled a homicide by the medical examiner who performed the autopsy. And it was all caught on crystal-clear video.
If Eric Garner’s killer can’t be indicted, what cop possibly could?
“If Eric Garner's killer can't be indicted, what cop possibly could? It's time to fix grand juries.” [Comment is Free / Guardian]
