USA-NEW YORK/CHOKEHOLD-PROTESTS New Yorkers protest decision in chokehold death

Record ID: 322778

  • Title: USA-NEW YORK/CHOKEHOLD-PROTESTS New Yorkers protest decision in chokehold death
  • Date: 5th December 2014
  • Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (DECEMBER 4, 2014) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** WIDE SHOT PROTEST PROTESTERS CHANTING, "KILLER COP HAS GOT TO GO" (SOUNDBITE) (English) PROTESTER REVEREND JOSE HUMPHREYS SAYING: "Well this is a deep issue and it goes several layers deep, and at this point what I'd like to see is some radical shifts and makeovers in o
  • Embargoed: 20th December 2014 12:00
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  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA3QL4EKB4MELQL7KX0XSBC20Q8
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT IS LIVE-U QUALITY
    Protests erupted in New York City on Thursday (December 4) for a second day in reaction to a grand jury's decision not to indict a white police officer over the choking death of an unarmed black man.
    Video footage from a bystander's mobile phone of 43-year-old Eric Garner being subdued by four police officers just before he died shows officer Daniel Pantaleo's arm pressed across Garner's throat as he lay on a Staten Island sidewalk, repeatedly gasping, "I can't breathe" -- a phrase that has become a rallying cry by demonstrators.
    Reaction to Wednesday's (December 3) decision echoed a wave of outrage sparked nine days earlier by a similar outcome in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager by a white policeman in Missouri.
    "At this point what I'd like to see is some radical shifts and makeovers in our policy and in our criminal justice system, because this is a systemic issue and people often think that we're trying to criminalize the police, and we're not trying to do that. We're trying to rail against a system that has created a culture that becomes violent against black people," said protester Reverend Jose Humphreys.
    Another protester, Carlie Fishgold, said there needed to be more transparency with police.
    "I know that there are good cops and I think we need more of them higher up. They're not all bad, but there are some people out there that shouldn't be where they are," she said.
    Pantaleo could still face disciplinary action from an internal police investigation, his lawyer said, adding that he expects that process to move quickly and that his client would be exonerated.
    A departmental investigation will likely focus on whether Pantaleo employed a chokehold, banned by New York Police Department regulations, in restraining Garner as he and other officers sought to arrest him for illegally selling cigarettes on a sidewalk in July.
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