Al Sharpton Marches with Family of Eric Garner to Protest Police Brutality

NEW YORK, NY - JULY 19: The Rev. Al Sharpton marches with family members of Eric Garner (right) and hundreds of others during a demonstration against the death of Eric Garner after he was taken into police custody in Staten Island on Thursday on July 19, 2014 in New York City. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio announced in a news conference yesterday that there will be a full investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of Garner. The 400-pound, 6-foot-4 asthmatic, Garner (43) died after police put him in a chokehold outside of a convenience store for illegally selling cigarettes. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY – JULY 19: The Rev. Al Sharpton marches with family members of Eric Garner (right) and hundreds of others during a demonstration against the death of Eric Garner after he was taken into police custody in Staten Island on Thursday on July 19, 2014 in New York City. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio announced in a news conference yesterday that there will be a full investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of Garner. The 400-pound, 6-foot-4 asthmatic, Garner (43) died after police put him in a chokehold outside of a convenience store for illegally selling cigarettes. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

When LIRR workers and the MTA reached an agreement to avoid the strike that would have begun on Sunday, it seemed that Mayor de Blasio and his family would be able to leave for their ten-day Italian vacation on Friday, as scheduled. But on Friday evening, De Blasio’s office announced that the mayor would remain in New York until Saturday “to attend to City business.” According to the New York Times, the mayor wanted to “spend more time making calls to elected officials, community leaders and members of the clergy, and talking to the police” about Eric Garner, the 43-year-old Staten Island man who went into cardiac arrest and died after NYPD officers put him in a chokehold on Thursday. Anyone who has seen the cell phone video of five cops piling onto an unarmed Garner can probably understand why De Blasio felt the need to at least briefly postpone his trip.

During a Friday press conference, De Blasio said that he was “deeply troubled” by the footage and called for a thorough investigation into what happened to Garner, a father of six who suffered from asthma and diabetes. NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton has already acknowledged that the maneuver his officer used “would appear to have been a chokehold,” which was banned by the Department 20 years ago.

Witnesses say that Garner’s fatal encounter with the police began just after he’d broken up an argument on Tompkinsville’s Bay Street, where he was a fixture known for sometimes selling untaxed cigarettes. A group of cops (who may have been called to the scene over the fight) reportedly questioned Garner about his cigarette business and, according to what “law enforcement sources” told SILive, they took him down after he “absolutely resisted arrest” and “took a fighting stance.” In the recording of the incident, Garner can be seen waving his arms and pleading to be left alone right before an officer begins choking from behind. He can also be heard repeatedly shouting “I can’t breathe!” before going silent.

The New York Times reports that Garner had been arrested at least 30 times over his cigarette hustle, which he took up after his poor health forced him to quit his job as a Parks Department horticulturist. From theTimes:

For years, Mr. Garner chafed at the scrutiny by the police, which he considered harassment. In 2007, he filed a handwritten complaint in federal court accusing a police officer of conducting a cavity search of him on the street, “digging his fingers in my rectum in the middle of the street” while people passed by.

More recently, Mr. Garner told lawyers at Legal Aid that he intended to take all the cases against him to trial. “He was adamant he wouldn’t plead guilty to anything,” said Christopher Pisciotta, the lawyer in charge of the Staten Island office of Legal Aid.

On Saturday, hundreds of people gathered at Harlem’s National Action Network to hear Reverend Al Sharpton address Garner’s death. “There are many crises that we are dealing with but none have impacted more and more than the reccurring problem with the New York City police,” said Sharpton. “This is going to be a real test to see where policies are in the city now and whether the change that we feel occurred has occurred.” (Sharpton added that De Blasio called called Garner’s widow and mother, Esaw Garner and Gwen Carr.) Another rally was held later in the day on Jersey Street in Staten Island.

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Source: New York Mag | 

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