Fr. James Martin, SJ
December 4 at 9:37am · Edited ·
You can support our country's police officers, as I do. I know a few police officers personally (as well as a former police officer) and I deeply admire them for putting their lives on the lines every day, something that I do not do. (Remember the police officers who sacrificed their lives, or who were ready to sacrifice their lives, on 9/11.) You can believe that the vast majority of law-enforcement officials are trying to do their best in often extremely complicated situations. I see that almost every day in the streets and subways of New York City. You can appreciate the sometimes nearly impossible challenges of dealing with the volatile and dangerous people they must encounter. I see that too almost every day in New York. And you can understand that many of their decisions must be made in a split second, under the kind of pressure that few of us will ever know.
You can think all those things and still be appalled by the death of Eric Garner, who died after being subdued by police officers on Staten Island. His fatal confrontation with police was captured on video and has been widely viewed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1ka4oKu1jo
At the beginning of the video, Mr. Garner seems belligerent. On the other hand, he had, according to witnesses, just broken up a fight on the street, so perhaps he was still tense as a result. He was also under suspicion for selling "loosies," loose cigarettes, which is illegal. But Mr. Garner was also unarmed, and the chokehold or "vascular neck restraint" (or whatever one calls the maneuver shown in the video) and other subduing techniques used by the police led to his death. "The compression of his chest and prone positioning during physical restraint by police," read the coroner's cause of death. (The practice of using chokeholds is banned by the NYPD.)
As the video clearly shows, Mr. Garner, prone on the sidewalk, gasping for breath, chokes out the words, over and over, and calmly: "I can't breathe. I can't breathe. I can't breathe." And then he dies. I am not embarrassed to say that the video moved me to tears. The fear in his voice is overwhelming.
You can admire police officers and still admit that they made a tragic mistake. You can support the justice system and still feel that justice has not been done . You can uphold the rule of law and still feel that the law is not being applied justly.
And if Mr. Garner had indeed just broken up a fight--being a peacemaker, as Jesus called us to be--then it is an even more brutal tragedy.
I'm not a police officer, so I don't know what that life is like. I'm not an African-American, so I don't know what that life is like either.
But when a man says, "I can't breathe," you should let him breathe. And if he dies after saying it, then you should have let him breathe.
At the beginning of the video, Mr. Garner seems belligerent. On the other hand, he had, according to witnesses, just broken up a fight on the street, so perhaps he was still tense as a result. He was also under suspicion for selling "loosies," loose cigarettes, which is illegal. But Mr. Garner was also unarmed, and the chokehold or "vascular neck restraint" (or whatever one calls the maneuver shown in the video) and other subduing techniques used by the police led to his death. "The compression of his chest and prone positioning during physical restraint by police," read the coroner's cause of death. (The practice of using chokeholds is banned by the NYPD.)
Lost in the racial outcry over the decision to not indict white police officer Daniel Pantaleo in the death of Black petty criminal Eric Garner is the key fact that the attempt to arrest Garner was overseen by a Black female police sergeant.
There were actually two sergeants on the scene, and both of them gave testimony to the grand jury, which probably has a lot to do with why even the more minor charges of negligence were not handed down, along with medical testimony that Garner's bad physical condition had more to do with his death than any "choke hold." (Even that assumption is not as cut-and-dry as protesters and the media tend to believe, because among other things, you can't talk when you're in a choke hold, and Garner was talking.)
The June 22 incident was captured on the officer’s dash-camera and shows Officer Adley Shepherd, 38, punching the 23-year-old woman, identified as Miyekko Durden-Bosley, who appears to be intoxicated and was protesting her arrest, claiming she had not made any threats against her domestic partner.
After being handcuffed and placed in the back of the patrol car, Durden-Bosley can be heard on the video saying “(expletive) you bitch,” and reportedly kicked out at Shepherd, according to a search warrant and an investigation into the incident conducted by the Washington State Patrol.
http://blogs.seattletimes.com/today/201 ... fed-woman/
Dajenarit wrote:Windwalkers mastery of coded language is just breathtaking..... I wonder if you're even aware of how you sound?
Dajenarit wrote:Don't arrest people unnecessarily. When pigs can be trusted to do that then we'll talk.
Dajenarit wrote:Don't arrest people unnecessarily. When pigs can be trusted to do that then we'll talk.
Sgt. Trent Crump said the shooting in Phoenix happened after an officer responded Tuesday to reports of someone selling drugs out of a Cadillac SUV. The officer ordered Brisbon, the sole occupant, to show his hands.
Authorities say Brisbon ran inside an apartment building and then got into a struggle with the officer. Brisbon put his hand in his pocket, and when the officer grabbed the hand, he thought he felt the handle of a gun through Brisbon's pants, police said.
Police say the officer repeatedly told Brisbon to keep his hand in his pocket, then shot him twice when he didn't do so.
Brisbon was hit in the torso and later pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators recovered a semi-automatic handgun and a jar of marijuana from his SUV.
Nora Brisbon said she doesn't want people to focus on the fact her son was black.
"This had nothing to do with race," Nora Brisbon told The Arizona Republic. "This is about Rumain and the wrong that was done to him, and I want people to focus on that. If they want to rally, let's support him positively."
Despite the department's efforts to be transparent with information, protesters marched Thursday night.
Marines seek realistic training in downtown Los Angeles
by KABC – Los Angeles 2:08 mins
The Marines are bringing their training to the downtown Los Angeles area. Officials say residents shouldn't be alarmed if they see or hear military aircraft overhead.
windwalker wrote:
its called a vascular neck restraint
windwalker wrote:
its called a vascular neck restraint
From a news report back in July from PIX11, it was revealed that the sergeant’s name was Kizzy Adoni. Throughout the incident, she does nothing to stop the actions of Officer Pantaleo, as the man can be heard countless times in the video saying that he could not breathe.
Additionally, there is no mention of the female officer in any of the news reports, even though she was the supervising officer on the scene that day.
“Pantaleo is the only NYPD member facing possible indictment. Others at the scene, including two sergeants, were offered immunity for their testimony to the grand jury.”
There will be protests. But those inveighing against a racist white cop killing an innocent black man should keep in mind that Garner’s killing scene was supervised by a black NYPD sergeant.
Which doesn’t make it as black and white as some would like the world to think
supervised by a black NYPD sergeant.
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