Eric Garner dies

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The death of Eric Garner occurred on the afternoon of 17 July 2014 respectively Staten Iceland in New York . The 43-year-old asthmatic African American Eric Garner (born September 15, 1970 ) was killed while being forcibly handcuffed by several police officers during his arrest . Soon afterwards, two videos of the incident were made public on YouTube and attracted great national and international attention.

The incident occurred shortly before the even more startling death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and also led to an investigation. A grand jury decided on 3 December 2014 not the main actor of the police Daniel Pantaleo to accuse . At the end of November the same decision had been made in the Michael Brown case, so that similar unrest was feared in New York. But in the end it stayed with demonstrations.

Happening

Garner was approached by police officers after he was outside a beauty product shop and his intervention had ended an argument. They suspected him of selling single untaxed cigarettes. Garner protested against a physical search, as he saw no reason for it, to which the police reacted with his arrest while a second patrol arrived. One of the policemen put Garner in a stranglehold from behind , which the New York police had been expressly forbidden since 1993.

Several officers then wrestled the big and overweight man to the ground, lying there several times loudly "I can not breathe" called ( German  "I can not breathe" ), without the police to respond, and then lost consciousness. In the meantime, several more police officers had arrived, including an officer who tried to feel Garner's pulse on the neck. Those present did not attempt any resuscitation . Only after several minutes was Garner transported to a hospital, where his death was found out.

consequences

The police officer Daniel Pantaleo, who had strangled Garner, had already been the cause of two civil rights suits in 2013 . Pantaleo is said to have acted brutally and racially motivated in two arrests . Pantaleo was brought to trial in September 2014 after a forensic investigation into Garner's death. However, the grand jury's jury concluded that there was no reasonable cause for an indictment, the New York District Attorney said in December 2014.

The then US President Barack Obama said that in this case too, just as in Ferguson, the Justice Department would investigate a possible violation of civil rights : “We will not rest until trust between our people and the police and judiciary is restored is. At the moment we are witnessing too many incidents that do not instill confidence in people that they are being treated fairly. "

Shortly after the grand jury's decision that Pantaleo should not answer for Garner's death, several thousand protesters gathered in Times Square in Manhattan. At the Grand Central Station , several demonstrators lay in protest to the ground. 30 arrests were made, including demonstrators who tried to sit on the ground. Because of the demonstrations, the Holland Tunnel was partially closed and traffic in New York partially came to a standstill. Among other things, the director Spike Lee is said to have participated in the demonstrations. There were also demonstrations in Washington, DC , Boston , Oakland , Denver , Chicago , Pittsburgh and Minneapolis , with hundreds of demonstrators blocking highways and bridges, among other things. Ramsey Orta, who filmed Garner's death and published the footage, was charged with gun ownership. The protests only subsided after two police officers were shot dead by a man in Brooklyn, New York , who claimed he wanted revenge on Michael Brown and Eric Garner.

  • Protests in New York City ...

  • ... Chicago

  • ... Boston

  • ... Washington, DC

  • … Bud Billiken Parade 2015

Garner's family filed a notice of claim as a precursor to a lawsuit against the City of New York demanding $ 75 million in compensation for Garner's death. The dispute was settled in July 2015 prior to the submission of final action by a comparison in which the city agreed to pay 5.9 million dollars (the equivalent of 5.3 million euros pledged) to the family.

On July 16, 2019, the US Department of Justice announced that it would not take legal action against any of the police officers involved in Garner's death. Garner's mother then appealed to the New York City Police Chief to dismiss Pantaleo from the police force, which actually happened on August 19, 2019 on the advice of an internal judge. Pantaleo's lawyer announced that he would be suing for reinstatement.

On June 8, 2020, passed New York State Assembly , the lower house of the State of New York , in the midst of the national crisis over the killing of African American George Floyd by police in Minneapolis a law that bears the name of Eric Garner. The Eric Garner Anti-Chokehold Act tightened the ban on the stranglehold, which had existed in the City of New York since 1993, insofar as injuring or killing a person by the method can now be punished as a crime with a maximum sentence of up to 15 years in prison. According to official information from the chamber, 996 people have been strangled by members of the New York City Police (NYPD) since Garner's death.

See also

Web links

Commons : Eric Garner's death  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Judith Browne Dianis: Eric Garner was killed by more than just a chokehold. MSNBC , August 5, 2014, accessed September 17, 2019 .
  2. ↑ a b Bernd Pickert: The police are the problem. The daily newspaper , July 24, 2014, accessed on September 17, 2019 .
  3. ↑ a b US police officer escapes charges after fatal use. Agency report. Die Zeit , December 4, 2014, accessed on September 17, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Verena Dobnik: NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo Stripped Of Gun, Badge After Chokehold Death. (No longer available online.) Huffington Post , July 19, 2019, archived from the original on July 21, 2014 ; accessed on September 17, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Marcus Pindur: Outrage over the waiver of charges against police officers. Deutschlandfunk , December 4, 2014, accessed on September 17, 2019 .
  6. ↑ a b Death without charge fuels protests in New York. faz.net , December 4, 2014, accessed September 17, 2019 .
  7. ↑ a b Thousands of Americans protest against police violence. Agency report. Spiegel Online , December 5, 2014, accessed September 17, 2019 .
  8. ^ Marc Pitzke: US court order drives thousands onto the streets. Manager Magazin , December 4, 2014, accessed September 17, 2019 .
  9. ^ A b J. David Goodman: Eric Garner Case Is Settled by New York City for $ 5.9 million. New York Times , July 13, 2015, accessed June 9, 2020 .
  10. ^ A b US policeman fired five years after fatal stranglehold. orf .at, August 19, 2019, accessed on September 17, 2019 .
  11. ↑ Matt Zapotosky, Devlin Barrett: Justice Dept. will not charge police in connection with Eric Garner's death. Washington Post , July 16, 2019, accessed September 17, 2019 .
  12. ↑ Ashley Southall: Daniel Pantaleo, Officer who held Eric Garner in Chokehold, is fired. New York Times , August 19, 2019, accessed September 17, 2019 .
  13. ^ Jordan Freiman: New York lawmakers pass anti-chokehold bill named for Eric Garner. CBS News , June 8, 2020, accessed June 9, 2020 .

Coordinates: 40 ° 38 ′ 13.8 "  N , 74 ° 4 ′ 35.5"  W.