Eric Garner: No charges in NY chokehold case

Another day, another grand jury.

Next time, don't resist arrest.

oh Geez another day another riot, "gonna gets me a new TV"!

I'd love to hear the grand jury's reasoning for the cop choking him after he's cuffed.

We don't kill people for misdemeanors and the cops are not supposed to escalate a simple citation into a deadly confrontation.

Again, I apply my measure to this that if the man had been killed by a civilian applying that same choke hold then the civilian would be up on charges of at least manslaughter.

But that magical, mystickal badge turns out to give the wearer immunity from the laws that apply to the peasants.

It'll be the jury in the civil lawsuit that's going to make the NYPD have to explain this in public.

We don't kill people for misdemeanors and the cops are not supposed to escalate a simple citation into a deadly confrontation.

Again, I apply my measure to this that if the man had been killed by a civilian applying that same choke hold then the civilian would be up on charges of at least manslaughter.

It wasn't a citation, he was being arrested.

He resisted, and since he was a 400 pounder, of course 4 cops had to jump him.





I won't argue cops get special treatment.

Good article on the innate dumbness of the zero-tolerance policies that are turning the police into legbreakers over the silliest of misdemeanours.

He was being arrested for citation offense. Had this gone before a judge for arraignment the judge would likely have called the cops a bunch of a**holes and them dismissed the charges. More likely is a smart ADA would have refused to press charges and just ordered the man released.

I'm generally one to defend cops. Can't say I can in this instance. One of the big rules when I took use of force is never do anything to someone's neck, unless you're intending to have to use lethal force.

He was being arrested for citation offense. Had this gone before a judge for arraignment the judge would likely have called the cops a bunch of a**holes and them dismissed the charges. More likely is a smart ADA would have refused to press charges and just ordered the man released.

Exactly. The cop killed a guy, using an choke-hold, for a very minor thing.

And people act surprised when there's protests and riots....I'm not saying they're always justified. But when the main avenue of achieving redress for a crime of this nature shows itself incapable and even unwilling to do anything, why are we surprised when there's a backlash?

OK so here's the talk radio excuse. Not making it, just relaying it, so you know.

What this is really about, they say, is nanny state, busybodying, making sure people don't get away without paying relatively new, excessive taxes.

Apparently NY has placed nanny state taxes on cigarettes. People have been buying them in other states and selling them on the street in NYC. New York doesn't want to be gypped of their special taxes. These cops were sicced on cigarette tax offenders by the mayor. It wasn't their choice to go after Gardner.

They could not be charged because they were obeying the specific instructions of their employer. I'm thinking the court, or whoever, decided that wasn't a choke hold, because apparently choke holds are not be used by police in NYC.

Apparently New York will also pursue those who do not pay parking fines to the ends of the earth and step on them with heavy boots.

Gee just think, if some Nany nazis had their way in NY the cops could have choked you for drinking a big gulp

Precisely.

It's more a choke-hold take-down I think.



From the look of it the problem comes about, because of the size of the guy. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred you could use that without a problem, but when you're applying it to a guy that size it takes a lot of pressure to take him down.