Having had time to digest the details of the Eric Garner case, I've come to three basic conclusions:
1)It was not homicide. The officers involved were only attempting to subdue Mr. Garner, not kill him. Choke holds can only kill someone if the person continues to be choked past the point of unconsciousness. When Eric Garner was saying "I can't breath" he was not in a choke hold, and did not die at the scene of the incident but suffered cardiac arrest in the ambulance on the way to the hospital and was pronounced dead about an hour later. Garner was in poor health and suffered from obesity, asthma, heart disease, severe asthma, diabetes, obesity, and sleep apnea. All of which contributed to his death. I'm convinced if he had been a healthy person he would still be alive today.
Some mistakes were made on the police officers part. When Garner was saying "I can't breath" obviously they should have eased up. But of course hindsight is always 20/20. There is also the possibility that police training is just too aggressive. Officers tend to deal with resistance by immediate escalation by overwhelming physical force. The idea is that it prevents injury to officer by nipping it in the bud. This may or may not be true, however another approach teaches progressive escalation of force based upon a force escalation policy. Perhaps it's time for police academies to re-examine how their officers are trained.
2)Garner is not completely blameless. I believe at most Garner should have been ticketed at most, however once that decision was made to arrest Garner he only had two options, go peacefully or go forcibly. Garner choose the second option and so takes some responsibility for his demise. As we have seen from previous incidents, resisting arrest never ends well. The correct course of action should have been to go peacefully and then contest it afterwards with a lawyer.
3)The real problem is taxes. NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio was quick to throw his own police officers under the bus, but in 2010 the New York State Legislature passed a law raising taxes on cigarettes purchased in New York City to $5.85 per pack of 20 cigarettes, the highest in the country. This has created a black market for cigarettes. So because NYC has a war on cigarettes, they created a virtual prohibition on a "legal" product which has fueled a black market. Has prohibition ever worked? I don't blame the police for doing their job, I blame the politicians for making the laws. There is an overabundance of laws and regulations, which NYC is notorious for. Remember the Soda Ban?
1)It was not homicide. The officers involved were only attempting to subdue Mr. Garner, not kill him. Choke holds can only kill someone if the person continues to be choked past the point of unconsciousness. When Eric Garner was saying "I can't breath" he was not in a choke hold, and did not die at the scene of the incident but suffered cardiac arrest in the ambulance on the way to the hospital and was pronounced dead about an hour later. Garner was in poor health and suffered from obesity, asthma, heart disease, severe asthma, diabetes, obesity, and sleep apnea. All of which contributed to his death. I'm convinced if he had been a healthy person he would still be alive today.
Some mistakes were made on the police officers part. When Garner was saying "I can't breath" obviously they should have eased up. But of course hindsight is always 20/20. There is also the possibility that police training is just too aggressive. Officers tend to deal with resistance by immediate escalation by overwhelming physical force. The idea is that it prevents injury to officer by nipping it in the bud. This may or may not be true, however another approach teaches progressive escalation of force based upon a force escalation policy. Perhaps it's time for police academies to re-examine how their officers are trained.
2)Garner is not completely blameless. I believe at most Garner should have been ticketed at most, however once that decision was made to arrest Garner he only had two options, go peacefully or go forcibly. Garner choose the second option and so takes some responsibility for his demise. As we have seen from previous incidents, resisting arrest never ends well. The correct course of action should have been to go peacefully and then contest it afterwards with a lawyer.
3)The real problem is taxes. NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio was quick to throw his own police officers under the bus, but in 2010 the New York State Legislature passed a law raising taxes on cigarettes purchased in New York City to $5.85 per pack of 20 cigarettes, the highest in the country. This has created a black market for cigarettes. So because NYC has a war on cigarettes, they created a virtual prohibition on a "legal" product which has fueled a black market. Has prohibition ever worked? I don't blame the police for doing their job, I blame the politicians for making the laws. There is an overabundance of laws and regulations, which NYC is notorious for. Remember the Soda Ban?
