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"We can't breathe": Outrage after jury decides cop won't be prosecuted for man's death

Garner died after being held in a chokehold, which was carried out by police officer Daniel Pantaleo.

eric garner ny daily news How the New York Daily News is reporting the story today. NY Daily News NY Daily News

THE DEATH OF Eric Garner has led to protests, vigils and strong front pages across the USA.

Yesterday, a jury decided that an NYPD police officer won’t face charges over the chokehold death of Eric Garner.

A video of Garner’s death showed the man saying ‘I can’t breathe’ as he was being held in the chokehold on 17 July.

Following yesterday’s jury decision, Attorney General Eric Holder said the US Justice Department will launch a federal civil rights investigation into the case of Eric Garner, 43, who died after being placed in a chokehold by New York police officer Daniel Pantaleo while being arrested on suspicion of selling untaxed cigarettes on Staten Island, a NYC borough.

Protests

Police Chokehold Death AP / Press Association Images AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images

Thousands of protesters hit the streets of New York after the grand jury’s decision was made public, days after a similar decision sparked unrest in US cities.

Soon after the decision by the grand jury, hundreds of protesters converged on Rockefeller Center and in New York City’s iconic Times Square chanting “No justice, no peace,” the rallying cry of demonstrators already angered by a separate grand jury decision last week not to indict a white policeman in the fatal shooting of black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.

Police made at least 30 arrests, New York Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said.

A series of small protests converged into a march of about 5,000 people down Broadway and eventually into Times Square, the Washington Post reported.

Ferguson

Police Chokehold Death AP / Press Association Images AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images

Both cases, coupled with the death of a 12-year-old black boy who was gunned down by police officers in Ohio while handling a toy pistol in a playground, have reignited a longstanding debate in the United States about relations between law enforcement and African Americans, as well as accusations of overly aggressive policing.

“I can’t breathe”

An amateur video of the arrest shows Garner, a heavy set man who suffered from asthma and had six children, gasping “I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe” as police officers held him to the ground with his throat constricted.

Holder’s announcement means Pantaleo could still face trial.

Protesters in Times Square waved signs with messages such as “Black lives matter,” and “Respect human lives.”

There was another protest at Grand Central Terminal, where about 50 protesters lay, pretending to be dead, and on Staten Island, where Garner’s clash with police happened.

Small demonstrations also broke out in Harlem, Union Square and Columbus Circle, while there were similarly small but peaceful protests in Washington, DC.

In New York, demonstrator Susan Schneider told AFP: “The police has impunity. They can run away whatever they do.

“And when you see them on the streets, how they are equipped, it’s like war. It’s worse than in the 60s. The racism is more strong now.”

‘An American problem’

Police Chokehold Death Esaw Garner, right, wife of Eric Garner, responds to a question during a news conference AP / Press Association Images AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images

The July death of Garner is one of a string of high-profile, racially charged incidents in which white police officers have been accused of using unreasonable force or being too quick to fire at black suspects.

Garner’s widow, Esaw Garner, said she rejected Pantaleo’s apology.

“Hell, no,” Garner said, according to the New York Times. “The time for remorse for the death of my husband was when he was yelling to breathe.”

“He’s still feeding his kids,” Garner said, “and my husband is six feet under and I’m looking for a way to feed my kids now.”

In brief comments following the grand jury decision, Barack Obama — the first black president of the US — addressed the inherent mistrust many African Americans have of police.

“We’re seeing too many instances where people do not have confidence that folks are being treated fairly,” Obama said.

“In some cases, those may be misperceptions, but in some cases that’s a reality, and it is incumbent upon all of us as Americans… that we recognize this is an American problem and not just a black problem or a brown problem.”

The August shooting death of 18-year-old Brown by a white policeman in Ferguson sparked consecutive nights of violence and became a rallying cry for African-American communities across the United States fed up with what they say is racially biased policing.

A grand jury in that case also decided not to charge the white officer involved, triggering demonstrations in cities across America last week and into the weekend.

Wearable cameras for cops

Police Chokehold Death People protest in Grand Central Terminal AP / Press Association Images AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images

A New York City medical examiner had ruled Garner’s death a homicide caused in part by the chokehold used during the arrest.

Mayor De Blasio has said authorities need to address the “underlying reality” highlighted by the deaths of Brown and Garner.

De Blasio, who is white, has a mixed-race son and said he is well aware of the difficulties young black people can face.

We’ve had to literally train him, as families have all over this city for decades, in how to take special care in any encounter he has with the police.

De Blasio noted that America is “dealing with centuries of racism.”

New York authorities announced a pilot program to equip about three dozen police officers with body cameras to record their behavior towards the public.

De Blasio hailed the tool as “one of the ways to create a real sense of transparency and accountability.”

- © AFP, 2014, with additional reporting by Aoife Barry

Read: NYPD cop won’t face charges over chokehold death of unarmed man>

Opinion: US policing culture is growing increasingly violent – so where will it end?>

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    Mute Johnny Walnut
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    Dec 4th 2014, 10:04 AM

    Its very simple to me. An unarmed man died because he was choked to death. That’s just not right no matter what way you look at it.

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    Mute Simon Barnes
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    Dec 4th 2014, 11:30 AM

    They choke hold has been made illegal to use in NYPD. How can this officer use it, kill someone by using it, and then get away scot free ?

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    Mute Dara O'Brien
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    Dec 4th 2014, 12:55 PM

    That won’t stop some from trying to defend the officer’s actions I’m afraid. Some will say “it’s his fault for resisting arrest/being overweight/having asthma …”

    others will try to deflect by asking “how is this a race issue?” in reality, the reason this is becoming a race issue is that where blacks kill blacks, they get jail. Where whites kill whites, they get jail. It now seems that where a white cop kills an unarmed Black man, it’s impossible to get jail. This is why it’s becoming a race issue.

    Ferguson – perhaps arguable if the guy tried to take the gun (though bring shot six times is not on at all)

    12yr old boy – shocking, shot within two seconds with the toy gun still in his pants – still, he had a replica so if you’re a loony right winger you could make an argument.

    But this one ? FFS unarmed, surrounded by 5 armed cops and choked to death in broad daylight with not even an effort to resuscitate – a man with 6 children.
    It’s time to stop defending the indefensible folks.

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    Mute Luther Cooper
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    Dec 4th 2014, 12:56 PM

    Becuase if they set a precedent of convicting one police officer then the flood gates will open!

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    Mute Avina Laaf
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    Dec 4th 2014, 3:30 PM

    You mean like this?:
    http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/sc-cop-charged-murder-unarmed-man-shooting-27362718

    For the record I think the cop involved in the choking death was completely in the wrong and should have been charged too, but before making sweeping assumptions you could at least do a bit of cursory research. It took me about 10 secs to find this link – less than the time it took you to write your comment.

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    Mute Avina Laaf
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    Dec 4th 2014, 3:36 PM

    Third cop to be charged this year for shooting an unarmed suspect, in South Carolina alone, so its clearly nonsense to suggest that cops never get charged.

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    Mute Brian Troy
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    Dec 4th 2014, 9:43 PM

    Why does everyone keep saying he died from being choked to death? He died of a heart attack. If you are saying you can’t breathe, I have news for you, you can breathe.

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    Mute Andy Murray
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    Dec 5th 2014, 6:42 AM

    Watch the video.

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    Mute Brian Troy
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    Dec 5th 2014, 12:46 PM

    I did. Did you not read what he died from? You need air to speak. If you are speaking you are not being choked. Try it. Did the way he was taken down lead to his death, yes. But he was not choked to death this is a fact not opinion.

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    Mute Niall Noonan
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    Dec 4th 2014, 9:46 AM

    You should add to the article that the use of a chokehold is forbidden by the NYPD themselves. The deceased was also unarmed and surrounded by police officers.

    The officer in question really needed to be arrested and tried for this.

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    Mute Martin Ryan
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    Dec 4th 2014, 10:07 AM

    A man murdered on the street by totally out of control cops and not even a prosecution, expect a serious backlash NY.

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    Mute Tony O' Leary
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    Dec 4th 2014, 10:33 AM

    We have people in Ireland calling Garda to be sacked over pushing people and then we have this, count ourselfs lucky

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    Mute George Orwell
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    Dec 4th 2014, 10:02 AM

    Why do we only hear of white cop vs black person deaths? The left are obsessed with the racist notion that the white establishment hate black people.

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    Mute Niall Noonan
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    Dec 4th 2014, 10:09 AM

    Give over with this left wing v right wing stuff would you, it’s pretty tiresome. We hardly ever hear of cop v black person deaths, here’s a list of tonnes of names from 2013 alone. How many of them were reported here?

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_killings_by_law_enforcement_officers_in_the_United_States,_2013

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    Mute John
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    Dec 4th 2014, 10:09 AM

    Because you know what it’s like to live as a black person in America? It’s the same as saying men get sexually harassed too — which they do. White people suffer racial injustices, too, but not nearly — not even slightly — on the same scale as black people, or women in the case of sexual harassment. It’s that white male privilege again, reading it’s ugly head and missing the point, yet again.

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    Mute Damien Moran
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    Dec 4th 2014, 10:11 AM
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    Mute Damien Moran
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    Dec 4th 2014, 10:12 AM

    Here are some more shocking statistics: More than 1,600 Whites are murdered by Blacks each year. Blacks murder Whites at 18 times the rate Whites murder Blacks.

    About 1 million Whites were murdered, robbed, assaulted, or raped by Blacks in 1992. In the last 30 years, 170 million violent and nonviolent crimes were committed by Blacks against Whites in the U.S. Blacks under 18 are more than 12 times more likely to be arrested for murder than Whites the same age.

    Some 90% of the victims of race crimes are Whites. Blacks commit 7.5 times more violent interracial crimes than Whites, although they comprise only one-seventh of the White population.

    On a per-capita basis, blacks commit 50 times more violent crimes than Whites. Some 27 million nonviolent crimes were committed in the U.S. in 1992 alone. 31% of the robberies involved Black offenders and White victims; only 2% involved White offenders and Black victims.

    1.3 million of the 6.6 million violent crimes committed in the U.S. each year are interracial. Between 1964 and 1994, more than 45,000 people were killed in interracial murders in the U.S., compared to 58,000 Americans killed in Vietnam and 38,000 killed in Korea.

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    Mute George Orwell
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    Dec 4th 2014, 10:21 AM

    Why would I give over? Ideological bias in the media is one of the most dangerous aspects of any society. I’ve spent many a time criticizing ultra conservatives in FOX comment boards as well. In Ireland, it is totally skewed to the left

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    Mute Enda
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    Dec 4th 2014, 10:23 AM

    This this “privilege” nonsense is getting tiring.

    Are single fathers privileged for getting to see their kids once a week?

    Less men go to university than women despite their “privilege”.

    The chance of a man ending up in jail, being violently attacked or committing suicide are all higher than for the same to happen to a woman. That old privilege again.

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    Mute Gearóid Ó Murchadha
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    Dec 4th 2014, 10:24 AM

    Dunno where you got your stats but I’m sorry to say that even if the figures are accurate you’re conclusions are completely flawed.
    Put simply, assuming your figures are accurate, blacks don’t commit 50 times more violent crime then whites, they are convicted of 50 times more violent crime then whites.

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    Mute George Orwell
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    Dec 4th 2014, 10:26 AM

    Gearoid – Are you implying that there is a disparity between committing and conviction?

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    Mute Damien Moran
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    Dec 4th 2014, 10:35 AM

    Are you trying to say that white people are not arrested in America?

    http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/crimestats

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    Mute Niall Noonan
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    Dec 4th 2014, 10:36 AM

    I think a lot of it has to do with the war on drugs to be honest, which is more a war on the poor than a war on a specific race. With their history in the country there are more black Americans living in poverty than white Americans, percentage wise at least, and so the war on drugs does affect their community more than the white community.

    That being said, and keep in mind these stats are about people who have been convicted, I’d like to know how those that think white and black America receive the same treatment explain this.

    The U.S. Sentencing Commission stated that in the federal system black offenders receive sentences that are 10 percent longer than white offenders for the same crimes. The Sentencing Project reports that African Americans are 21 percent more likely to receive mandatory-minimum sentences than white defendants and are 20 percent more like to be sentenced to prison.

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    Mute John
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    Dec 4th 2014, 10:40 AM

    Any white male who thinks he’s less privileged than women or any other race in western society is, quite frankly, delusional, and is clearly living in their own self-pitying dream world.

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    Mute Damien Moran
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    Dec 4th 2014, 10:45 AM

    I reckon that the same could be said for the black male in Africa, or the Asian male in Asia etc.

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    Mute George Orwell
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    Dec 4th 2014, 11:05 AM

    I don’t think I am less or priviledged. I believe in this crazy thing called equality

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    Mute George Orwell
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    Dec 4th 2014, 11:07 AM

    *less or more.

    I love how liberals throw around the phrase ‘white priviledge’ when they run out of bs to fling

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    Mute Rob Cahill
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    Dec 4th 2014, 12:09 PM

    Liberals, Leftist, Right wing.. You sound like one of the idiots on the Fox news comments.

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    Mute themanwiththeplan
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    Dec 4th 2014, 10:12 AM

    i don’t agree that these are racial motivated, I just think cops in America need better training. Law protectors rather than enforcers

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    Mute Domhnaill Fox
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    Dec 4th 2014, 12:01 PM

    Agreed. No evidence that these were “racially charged” as the article claims.

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    Mute Dietrich Död
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    Dec 4th 2014, 3:00 PM

    I think the argument in this case is that the judgement was racially motivated, not the crime.

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    Mute Thomas Mac
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    Dec 4th 2014, 11:04 AM

    He would have probably been left brain damaged if he survived being murdered.

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    Mute Joe Bergin
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    Dec 4th 2014, 10:54 AM

    The police are not as free to kill as in the past. In San Francisco the Bart cop got a year or two and lost his job for shooting the kid who was lying down on the platform. Cell phones have slowed the cops way down from when I was young. In 1969 the cops could beat a white kid to death in front of witnesses in Cambridge, MA. Now I think it really needs to be a poor, black guy and it is usually LAPD ( getting better, I hear) Chicago ( recovering from their torture era) or the newly infamous NYPD. America cannot be compared to Europe. Reagan turned the US away from that social democratic/human rights model. AlHaig, ” them nuns had it comin’” symbolized the honesty & honor the ordinary people could expect from the agents of the oligarchy.
    In the real, conservative sh*t**le states the crime is twice as high as the Northeast and this stuff never makes the papers. They hit you with a huge charge and you plead out with whatever part of your life you can save.
    That being said I think almost all our local forces around Boston really do protect & serve nowadays…State Police are still occupiers and thugs though…

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    Mute Uncle Mort
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    Dec 4th 2014, 10:30 AM

    The face of the stirrer in chief Al Sharpton appears in one photo above, African -Americans as they like to be called have a very poor selection of leaders

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    Mute Marv
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    Dec 4th 2014, 9:48 AM

    I can think of another phrase than “heavy set man” and of course he suffered from asthma!

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    Mute Denis Reidy
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    Dec 4th 2014, 10:01 AM

    And once again, from the home of the brave and land of the free. Disgusting country really.

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    Mute Shane Walsh™
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    Dec 4th 2014, 9:45 AM

    Why does it say “We Can’t Breath in the title?” when it was “I Can’t breathe?”.

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    Mute vv7k7Z3c
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    Dec 4th 2014, 9:46 AM

    Hi Shane, that is in reference to the cover of the NY Daily News, which is just below the headline.

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    Mute Shane Walsh™
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    Dec 4th 2014, 9:48 AM

    Yeah but it does not make sense either way, it was only him who said he couldn’t breathe who was the other person?

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    Mute vv7k7Z3c
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    Dec 4th 2014, 9:54 AM

    Hi Shane, I believe that the NY Daily News are using the phrase to refer to their reaction and that of people in the US, they ‘can’t breathe’ because they’re shocked at the jury’s verdict.

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    Mute Shane Walsh™
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    Dec 4th 2014, 9:57 AM

    Thanks Aoife! Maybe I will wake up after my morning coffee.. :)

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    Mute Derek Smalls
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    Dec 4th 2014, 10:01 AM

    I understood the headline as saying “we can’t breathe”, as in “the black community in America can’t breathe” due to the excessively violent behaviour of a minority of policemen.

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    Mute Alien8
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    Dec 4th 2014, 10:05 AM

    I think the headline is not for the black or white communities, but for all Americans. You will find the majority of all Americans are outraged that a man can be chocked to death in a wrestling move, on camera, and not face charges.

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    Mute vv7k7Z3c
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    Dec 4th 2014, 10:13 AM

    Make it an espresso ;)

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    Mute Brian Troy
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    Dec 4th 2014, 11:31 PM

    He wasn’t “choked to death”.

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    Mute TheLoneHurler
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    Dec 4th 2014, 10:26 AM

    Correct me if I am wrong, but the jury would have been 50:50 black:white for a case like this? If so, does his own people not think the killing was wrong?

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    Mute Niall Noonan
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    Dec 4th 2014, 10:46 AM

    You’re wrong with that 50/50 claim. The grand jury was made up of 14 whites and 9 nonwhites (note, not black, could be Asian, Hispanic etc.)

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    Mute Remu
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    Dec 4th 2014, 3:14 PM

    Please watch the video and decide for yourself whether he deserved to die.

    http://gawker.com/i-cant-breathe-asthmatic-father-dies-after-nypd-chok-1607277393

    Outrageous.

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    Mute David Fitzgerald
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    Dec 4th 2014, 4:58 PM

    Al Sharpton is melting

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    Mute Foxtrot Hotel
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    Dec 5th 2014, 1:47 PM

    Did anyone see the slag from FOX news saying she hoped the protest didn’t interrupt a tree lighting ceremony?

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    Mute Mary McMahon
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    Dec 5th 2014, 3:21 AM

    A few months ago a homeless man was beaten and tasered to death by 5 police officers ,he looked like he’d been hit by an express train . http://www.salon.com/2014/01/14/cops_who_beat_homeless_man_to_death_walk_free/

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