Cops kill a man for violating the cigarette tax

Cops kill a man for violating the cigarette tax December 5, 2014

We’ve talked a great deal about the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, at the hands of a police officer, whom a grand jury refused to indict after discovering facts not included in the earlier media reports.  Now in New York City, a grand jury has refused to indict a police officer for killing Eric Garner, putting a lethal chokehold on him for the crime of selling untaxed loose cigarettes! 

Some call this another act of police racism.  But many conservatives are condemning the police action for other reasons, including the heavy-handed way state power is used to enforce foolish tax laws.  What do you think about this case?

From Peter Wehner, The Tragic, Unsettling Death of Eric Garner « Commentary Magazine:

I was a vocal defender of the cops–and specifically Officer Darren Wilson –in the shooting in Ferguson, Missouri. I criticized the media coverage of the events there. I will also admit that my disposition is to be supportive of cops, perhaps in part because my brother was an award-winning police officer.

But what happened to Eric Garner, based on this video, is quite troubling and upsetting. I want to hear more about why the Staten Island grand jury didn’t indict New York City police officer Daniel Pantaleo for the death of Mr. Garner for selling untaxed cigarettes (you read that right). It’s possible there’s evidence to justify its decision. But from what I saw, the level and type of force used against Mr. Garner was wholly unnecessary—and so, certainly, was his death. (According to the New York Times, “An autopsy by the city’s medical examiner found that Mr. Garner’s death was a homicide resulting from the chokehold — a maneuver banned by the Police Department in 1993 — and the compression of his chest by police officers.”)

I get that when citizens don’t obey orders from a police officer, they will sometimes need to be subdued. But there’s also such things as judgment and discretion. In this case, Mr. Garner committed the lowest-level transgression imaginable, he wasn’t armed, and he wasn’t really violent. He certainly wasn’t a man who deserved to die. Most people watching this video and hearing Mr. Garner scream “I can’t breathe!” before his body goes limp will, I think, be disturbed by it. Call it basic human sympathy.

I’m not in favor of rushing to judgment, and I’ll be happy to revise my own views based on evidence, if that’s warranted. But for now, based on the evidence we do have, my reaction is that a lethal mistake, an injustice, and a genuine human tragedy happened on the streets of New York on July 17.

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