On July 17, a video shot by phone in Staten Island, New York showed two white police officers, Justin Damico and Daniel Pantaleo, in the process of arresting Eric Garner when he began shouting and slapping their hands. Pantaleo then put his arm around Garner’s neck and used a hold to subdue him.
Garner fell to the ground and repeated, “I can’t breathe,” as Pantaleo tried to handcuff him. More officers joined the scene to help. Garner repeated, “I can’t breathe,” until he became unresponsive. He then died from cardiac arrest in the care of EMTs. When the video went viral the public cried out — Americans wanted justice.
Garner’s death, then, was ruled a homicide caused by Pantaleo’s chokehold and by pressure placed on his back when police were handcuffing him. For definition’s sake, a homicide does not include one’s intent to kill, but rather the killing of Garner merely resulted from Pantaleo’s actions. After the ruling, groups that were united after the Ferguson ruling turned their attention to New York, where Americans awaited the Grand Jury’s ruling. The ruling came: Pantaleo was not indicted. Is that justice?
When I saw the video, I was shocked at the violence displayed toward Garner, for though he was resisting arrest, he wasn’t being violent towards the officers. Pantaleo’s escalation with the chokehold was not merited by Garner’s actions.
In the same instance it was not Pantaleo alone who killed Garner. As one sees in the video, Garner was a large man — around 350 pounds — and had a history of “asthma and high blood pressure,” which “made Garner especially vulnerable,” according to an article titled “An Interpretation of the Grand Jury’s Decision on Eric Garner’s Death” by Evan Horowitz for the Boston Globe. The fact of Garner’s health and his history of petty crime deterred me from believing Garner was a victim of racism. Excessive force should not have been used, but the choke-hold in combination with Garner’s ailments were to blame. I don’t excuse any action by Pantaleo, but it’s foolish to label this event as race-motivated.
That being said, I wanted the officers involved to receive punishment: either for Pantaleo’s aggression, or the passivity of others when Garner yelled, “I can’t breathe.” Garner was a victim of violent circumstance, and for what? Cigarettes?
I am hesitant to blame Pantaleo for Garner’s death because of Garner’s ailments and the fact no evidence was found to suggest racism was involved.
It seems that any conflict between races that involves at least in our media’s eyes, is racist, hence the #blacklivesmatter movement. This is a jump in logic that cannot not be ignored. Sometimes individuals do horrible things to others, no matter the skin color, but I also believe too many individuals don’t consider other races as equal.
Garner shouldn’t have died, and Pantaleo should have been punished, but racism isn’t the issue. We must be careful that we don’t fall prey to popular propaganda and to be critical of the voices we listen to.
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Follow Zach Roush on Twitter: @zachryrowsh
