There are several things that really stand out as constants here. In the Garner case, as well as the Trayvon Martin case and the Michael Brown case, each of the individuals was a seasoned criminal, and was engaged in criminal acts at the time of their demise. In all three cases, the individual was aggressive, and was combative. Most important to me, is that in all three cases, there was a seminal event, that was seized upon by the media, and that morphed into a meme. With Trayvon Martin, that was 'stand your ground', even though that was not even part of Zimmerman's defense. With Michael Brown, it was 'hands up, don't shoot', and with Garner, it was 'illegal choke hold'. In all three cases, the meme was constructed out of whole cloth, and not based in fact. The media has made all three of these cases, symbolic of police excess. Those white folks eaten up with white guilt, and the entire black community have embraced these eponymous events as symptomatic of something wrong with the interface between police and public, instead of showing that something is wrong with the behavior of black youths.
Very good post. It's obvious Mr. Gardner was breaking the law and had he complied, we wouldn't be discussing this.
That said, the choke hold, while not illegal was (is) against NYPD standing orders and the Black Female sergeant and senior ranking officer present at the scene, failed to control her officers by ordering the officer to immediately cease. In my opinion, given what *I* saw in the video, and of course taking into account recent events, were I the prosecutor, I would have sent this to trial, even if I KNEW I was going to lose, for the simple reason the coroner ruled the death a homicide. BTW, Mr. Gardner died of a myocardial infarction with the choke hold as the catalyst, hence the homicide label.
A good principle to guide me through life: “This is all I have come to expect, standard lackluster performance. Trust nothing, believe no one and realize it will only get worse…”
