Police say the officers observed Garner selling untaxed cigarettes on Bay Street, just blocks away from the 120th precinct. They say he'd been arrested before for the same offense.
Authorities didn't say whether Garner was handcuffed or if there was a struggle during the arrest, however the video obtained by the paper shows several officers attempting to take Garner into custody by putting him in a choke hold and pressing him towards the ground.
Emphasis mine.
Diogenes of Sinope: "It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
Diogenes of Sinope: "It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
As cops took the father of six to the ground, video shows Officer Pantaleo putting the man in a chokehold, a tactic banned by the NYPD in 1993.
"Things like this happen, unfortunately," said Lynch, noting the office never intended to kill Garner. "And that doesn't mean to lessen it---it means it's the reality. In communities, we have to deal with the reality of the job we have to do."
The reality of your job involves dealing with nonviolent offenders using methods deemed shitty for the past 20 years that could occasionally result in their death when applied by people who don't know what they're doing?
After the takedown, Garner looked lifeless on the sidewalk as cops stood around without trying to revive him. The autopsy said "prone positioning during physical restraint by the police" and Garner's weight, high blood pressure and asthma were also contributing factors. He weighed about 350 pounds.
Still waiting to read about the part where he resisted arrest and had to be manhandled 3 on 1 in a manner that restricted his airflow.
Diogenes of Sinope: "It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."