YOUTUBE
Witnesses say that Eric Garner was breaking up a fight when police approached him about selling untaxed cigarettes. A struggle ensued, a police chokehold was applied and moments later Garner was dead.
Eric Garner was standing on a sidewalk Thursday when police, who accused him of selling untaxed cigarettes, approached him.
Garner, 43, told police that he hadn’t sold anything and to leave him alone.
After a brief standoff, five police officers attempted to take the 400-pound Staten Island, N.Y., father of six down to the ground. Video footage from the incident shows Garner being choked from behind by one officer as the other officers attempt to handcuff him, the New York Daily News reports. Garner can be heard on the footage saying, “I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe.”
In the end, Garner lay unconscious on the pavement. He later went into cardiac arrest and died at Richmond University Medical Center, the Daily News reports.
“When I kissed my husband this morning, I never thought it would be for the last time,” Garner’s wife, Esaw, told reporters. The family also noted that Garner suffered from asthma.
Authorities told the Daily News that Garner had a history of selling untaxed cigarettes and had an October court date on three charges, including pot possession and selling untaxed cigarettes.
Source: The Root | STEPHEN A. CROCKETT JR.
BCNN1 WP 