An asthmatic selling smokes on the street.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/03/justice/new-york-grand-jury-chokehold/
I see you have a case of selective reading...
Suspected of selling smokes.
Even if it could be proven that he was selling smokes, that's no reason for the cops to behave the way they did.
They didn't even declare that he was under arrest. They just started reaching for his arms and hands, then tackled him with a chokehold.
Each cop needs to be taken off the force.
Suspected of selling smokes, but the main problem was resisting arrest. When your resist arrest then anything goes.
The guy had been arrested more then 30 times since 1980, you think he wasn't aware of the procedure by now?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Eric_Garner
No, not "anything goes", appropriate level of force, goes. There was no threat of grievous bodily harm or death, therefore there was no need to use lethal force. There are more appropriate soft and hard physical control techniques available; distractionary strikes and pain compliance which are not known to cause crippling, long term injury or risk death would have been more appropriate.
So he didn't deserve to die.
Is that what you're saying?
Or that he DID deserve to die, but that nobody has actually said that?
It's pretty plain and simple, guilty or not guilty, the police tell you you're under arrest and you resist, they are going to do what they believe is necessary to make said arrest, they aren't going to apologize and leave you be. This guy died mainly because of underlying health issues and his past history speaks volumes.
One such technique would have been to comply with instructions which unfortunately he chose not to do.
He did not deserve to die, the cop didn't try to kill him. He was uncooperative, the cops used a banned technique for getting control of him, which along with his being morbidly obese killed him.
Had he calmly complied he'd be Christmas shopping this weekend - same with Michael Brown.
OTB
It's pretty plain and simple, guilty or not guilty, the police tell you you're under arrest and you resist, they are going to do what they believe is necessary to make arrest .
He did not deserve to die, the cop didn't try to kill him. He was uncooperative, the cops used a banned technique for getting control of him, which along with his being morbidly obese killed him.
Had he calmly complied he'd be Christmas shopping this weekend - same with Michael Brown.
OTB
One such technique would have been to comply with instructions which unfortunately he chose not to do.
If he has just followed the commands of the police and not resisted he wouldn't be dead. It's his own fault.
Would it have been reasonable and within the police officers' rights to shoot him in the head to subdue him?Suspected of selling smokes, but the main problem was resisting arrest. When your resist arrest then anything goes.
The guy had been arrested more then 30 times since 1980, you think he wasn't aware of the procedure by now?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Eric_Garner
No, reasonable force is what is dictated, lethal force comes in to play when there is a threat to the officers or the publics lives. However, once again, perhaps he shouldn't have resisted arrest. Once again you seem to want to ignore the facts that he was being placed under arrest and was resisting.
Now we're getting somewhere.
The police officers are ACCOUNTABLE for anything that happens henceforth from that moment, and must be made to answer to that in a court of law.
If a civilian is going to be held to the letter of the law, so should the police officer, to an even greater extent, as he is a representative of the law who's actions should be beyond reproach.
And that banned technique, which should be argued was unreasonable force, resulted in a death. He needs to be held responsible.Out of policy and against the law are different things. That officer could be subject to discipline without being criminally liable.