He used a chokehold that is banned. How is that not intent to do harm?
And I am done with the excuse that someone was "resisting". He wasn't fighting them. He was being harassed by cops and then they physically assaulted. Having a badge does not make that legal.
The video did not show that the police officers were intending to do anything other than restrain Mr. Garner. The unfortunate truth is that in order to stick someone with strangulation and murder charges, there has to be intent to kill them. That is not what occurred.
As for the police hassling him, Mr. Garner was currently out on bail for numerous offenses, including driving without a license, false personifcation, possession of marijuana, and selling untaxed cigarette at the time of his death.
The issue of the cigarettes seems silly, but it's actually a major problem in New York, with people stealing cigarettes and selling them on the street. First of all, the thefts damage the local economy, and the state loses out on a ton of money when people don't pay taxes for those products.
Mr. Garner had numerous complaints from stores, where he would intimidate shop owners, and then sell cigarettes to their customers.
So no, the police were not hassling Mr. Garner. He was breaking the law, and they were within their rights to engage with him. What followed after was not appropriate, but I will not support the idea that Mr. Garner was just hanging out, and was a victim of random police brutality. That simply wasn't the case.
So then he must have been crazy...
How could it have been better than a trial?
Wilson had the prosecution on his side, and Wilson not filling out a report (which is, to my understanding, supposed to be protocol in most police shooting) seems like it could have been a benefit.
To your first question: Yes, the grand jury is better than a trial jury. Even if the DA was reluctant to prosecute, there is no defense in a grand jury case. So the grand jury got to ask questions, were allowed to see all the evidence, and were able to weigh and make a decision based on that.
Half those witness statements would have probably been suppressed, if it had gone to trial. Some of the science may not have been allowed in.
And to be honest, the charge of murder would have been a waste of time. I don't believe Michael Brown's case even meets the standard for manslaughter. This case should never even have gone to a grand jury.
The other thing you mentioned was the police report. A union lawyer advised Wilson to not fill one out immediately. He followed that advice, as is his right. He did eventually file a report about ten days later.
My point, however, was that it wasn't a court case the way most people would consider it. People think of a two sided argument, when it was just a one sided argument.
Well, yes, it's true that it wasn't a true court case. This allowed all the evidence, and other things that typical juries wouldn't get to hear. And as I said, the fact that it was one-sided was actually better.
Yeah, which is makes the lying from the NYPD union leader...and numerous people making the stupid argument that it wasn't a chokehold (or maybe these people don't know what a chokehold is?). And yeah, he wasn't resisting.
Yes he was resisting. He swatted at the officers, and refused to go down, even when there were three of them on him at one point. Resisting arrest doesn't mean that you actively engage in beating the officers. It means that if you don't comply with the arrest, you are resisting.
I mean, the most shocking thing about this is you have a civilian that can be murdered on camera...and there's not even a trial. He doesn't even get fired.
Killing an innocent civilian doesn't seem to be a reason to get fired by the NYPD...
Again, Mr. Garner was not an innocent civilian. And he wasn't murdered. He was accidentally killed when people were being reckless. It may seem like a fine line to you, but it's an important one.
I'm all for stopping police brutality, but I absolutely cannot stand when people lie, mislead, or repeat fiction as truth in order to support their position.
