TENSIONS ON
THE RISE IN THE WAKE OF
DEATH OF STATEN
ISLAND MAN RESISTING ARREST
AL SHARPTON
AND SPIKE LEE NEVER MISS AN
OPPORTUNITY TO EXPLOIT A RACIALLY CHARGED ISSUE.
TAGS:
ERIC GARNER, AL SHARPTON & SPIKE LEE RACE-BAITING AGAIN,
“CHOKE
HOLD” VERSUS TAKE DOWN, POLICE VERSUS POLICING,
NYPD,
NYPD INTERNAL AFFAIRS INVESTIGATION, NYPD PATROL GUIDE,
CESSATION
OF SQF, FDNY EMT INVESTIGATION,
NYC
OFFICE OF LEGAL COUNSEL
(Thursday July 24, 2014,
NYC) The audio and visual images of NYPD
Officers attempting to arrest Eric Garner on Staten Island last Thursday are
compelling and, to the uninitiated eye condemning. The dynamics of this most recent high profile
NYPD interaction with an alleged perpetrator is one we are all too familiar
with. Passions naturally run high on
both sides of the circumstances by which the 6’ 5’ 400 pound father of six died
after he resisted arrest and was taken to the ground before the Officers could
subdue him.
The unfortunate death of Mr.
Garner is being perceived through the same narrow vision of a tricolored
spectrum; Black, Blue and White are the only colors this particular prism
allows to filter through. Mr. Garner was
a Black man and the NYPD Officers represent the Blue hue and all happened to be
White. As long as the debate is framed
in such a limiting manner we might look back on this episode months from now as
the flashpoint that ignited what may prove to be a long hot summer in our
City.
And, as predictable as tomorrow’s
dawn the usual public figures insinuate themselves into the growing maelstrom
because they can never resist an opportunity to exploit their own
self-promoting, self-serving interests.
People who could use their “fame” or other status to bring measured
tones to counter the rancorous arguments throughout our neighborhoods opt
instead to fan the always simmering flames of racial tensions while disparaging the
NYPD has become their stock in trade. It
is sickening to see men such as “Reverend” Al Sharpton who has traded his track
suits for $2000 Amani’s since the Michael
Stewart days. Perhaps to bolster his
lagging career as a film maker, Spike Lee has stepped up to the plate and, in
the most despicable way possible, created a mishmash
video clip of Mr. Garner’s tussle with police with images from a somewhat
similar scene from one of his movies that he just so happens to be re-promoting
to mark its 25th year anniversary of release, his 1989 film “Do The
Right Thing”. Spike Lee clearly demonstrated to all that he is a classless instigator who has used many of his films to further his political agenda while getting rich directing half-witted, racially charged movies.
Within hours after Mr. Garner
was pronounced dead at Richmond University Medical Center, Mayor Bill de Blasio
and NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton announced that his Department’s Internal
Affairs Division was going to conduct an investigation
of the incident and retrain Officers on what is officially considered a
“chokehold”, a means of subduing an individual that has been banned from the
NYPD Patrol Guide since 1993. On Tuesday the FBI announced that they would
be “monitoring” the internal NYPD investigation. That is a curious statement since the entire
event falls within the domain of The City of New York and its Office of Legal Counsel,
NYPD and the FDNY since four FDNY EMT’s arrived at the scene and appeared to
not be making sufficient efforts to revive Mr. Garner as he lay on the ground. By law the FBI is tasked with federal law
enforcement and has no jurisdiction over the NYPD and cannot become involved in
any “local” criminal investigation unless the case meets certain strict
criteria and/or they are formerly “invited” by local authorities to assist them. Perhaps the Department of Justice and Attorney
General Eric Holder are preparing for what will likely be a civil suit brought
by Garner’s family. In any case, at this
point this development just further complicates the matter.
CHOKE-HOLD VERSUS TAKE-DOWN
With the popularization of MMA
or Mixed Martial Arts Fighting, the viewing public knows what a choke-hold looks
like. Most times an opponent is trapped
in a choke-hold he will lose consciousness if he doesn’t “tap out” prior to
passing out. While many who have seen the video of the Officers attempting to
arrest Mr. Garner see an Officer grab the much taller, heavier man from the
back, that maneuver is clearly not a choke-hold; the Officer never locked his
arms in the position that would be considered a choke-hold. The Officer employed a common street fighting
technique known as a take-down. It is a
close-line type clinching of one arm from behind an assailant’s back in order
to restrain the individual’s effort to resist arrest and possibly injure the Officers. That Garner was morbidly obese and as an asthmatic
were contributing factors that no doubt were the underlying cause of his
death.
A complete or partial post
mortem examination was made of Mr. Garner’s body by one of the NYC Medical
Examiners. That report has not been
released and may still not be complete.
But, the results of that post mortem will prove what exactly killed Mr.
Garner. The truth is always revealed by
the Forensic Pathologist’s scalpel. The
external and initial internal gross examination of tissue and organs often show
telltale evidence as to the cause of death and, after specific tissue samples
are processed for microscopic study, the whole story can be told. Until that report is made public any opinions
regarding Garner’s death are speculative at best; purposely deceptive and false
at worst.
Much has been made about Mr.
Garner shouting at the Officers who were attempting to cuff him while he was
pinned beneath them on the ground in a standard operating procedure for
applying cuffs to a resisting perpetrator.
He was heard 11 times forcefully telling the Officers, “I can’t
breathe”. A person who is rendered into
a position or succumbs to the pressures that would obstruct breathing would
also render them unable to speak forcefully and clearly. If Garner was indeed having his breath
obstructed his pleas about his lack of ability to do so would have grown shallower,
more labored and fainter. Again the post
mortem will reveal what his breathing restraints were or weren’t and if, in
fact, he succumbed by asphyxiation. It
is likely that Garner suffer a myocardial infarction – a heart attack – brought
on by the over exertion as he resisted arrest, compounded by his bulk and
asthmatically compromised lungs.
CHOICES
After 39 prior arrests for
essentially penny ante crimes, for whatever reasons, Mr. Garner chose Thursday
July 17, 2014 to make a stand. He kept
his back to the wall as the Officers converged around him to question him and
he told them clearly, “This
ends today”. Obviously he was
referring to what he perceived as all his priors and had reached his
point. Everyone has a point and last
Thursday Mr. Garner had decided he had reached his. At any time he could have simply complied
with the Officer’s initially polite questions that escalated to more
threatening tones as Garner continue to remain in a belligerent, resistant
posture.
While the video clip captures
the sights and sounds of the altercation the element that no recording device
of any kind can capture is the “feel” of the confrontation, the “smell” and
“sense” of it as it plays out as both parties react and respond to the energy
field between them that crackles and tingles like static electricity between
high tension wires. People who have
grown up or spent times “on the streets” know all too well that feel, smell and
sense component. Anyone who has ever
gotten into a barroom brawl or street fight is familiar with it. Cops are intimately familiar with this sixth
sense and as they grow in experience all the stimulus accumulated and processed
throughout the years allows the Cop to acquire instincts; second nature
responses that result in rapid, decisive action be that particular reaction escalatory
or de-escalatory.
It can be posited that an
average man of Mr. Garner’s age, no matter his race, color or creed would
comply with any reasonable instructions from uniformed, armed Members of
Service (MOS) of NYPD. Mr. Garner did
not comply. Does this entirely excuse
the MOS who interacted with him last Thursday from any culpability? Does that event explain why the EMT’s appear
indifferent to Mr. Garner’s health status as he lay on the sidewalk? These are not questions that can be
responsibly answered from simply viewing the video clip that has gone
viral. People are free, obviously, to
draw any conclusions they care to, arrive at the answers that most comport with
their world and personal views. But
having such potentially incendiary tirades as we have seen on the local TV news
and have read on-line, in the papers and in the media at large is absolutely
counter-productive and creates an even greater chasm between the NYPD and the
African American community who often feel they are subjected to unfair scrutiny
and heavy-handed tactics by NYPD MOS.
POLICE VERSUS POLICING
The overwhelming majority of
New Yorkers welcome the safety and security the men and women of the NYPD
provide. They support efforts to reduce
crime, initiatives designed for crime prevention and overall help maintain a
sense of social order that many big cities today such as Chicago, Detroit,
Flint, and Oakland are severely lacking.
We of a certain age have all lived through our darkest chapters and
recent troubling trends ought not to be misinterpreted as ominous signs that we
are sliding backwards. We are not returning
to our past.
The fact of the matter is that
while people like the concept of the Police they are often uncomfortable and
disturbed when they actually witness real life “Policing”. Policing the largest City in America is a
tough job, one the MOS of the NYPD take great pride in and excel at. Policing is often sloppy, sweaty, dangerous and
ugly. There is nothing neat and tidy
about policing our streets and housing projects, our parks and promenades, and
our subways. Policing often requires the
use of force; of physical altercations with the criminal element that no one
really wants to know about. They do not
care to know about it until they notice it is NOT happening anymore.
With the cessation of the controversial
“Stop, Question and Frisk” (SQF) policy, many citizens from neighborhood
councils and groups throughout the Five Boroughs, some living in the most crime
infested pockets of The Bronx, Brooklyn and Upper Manhattan tell Officers that
they miss the greater Police presence that SQF often brought to their streets
and projects. After all it is not the Police themselves who help maintain
social order but rather the concept
of the Police. Since MOS cannot blanket
every block throughout the City, it is the concept of being caught in some
criminal act that helps maintain the order required of a civil society. Do the Police sometimes get something
wrong? Certainly. They are all as error prone as any humans are
but they are also highly trained in the exercise of restraint, self-restraint , as well as in the most
effective, efficient and safest methods to apply force while protecting
innocent lives and their own lives.
For some reason it seems as if
the Officers who engaged Mr. Garner one week ago and were probably familiar
with his history to some degree, felt it necessary to make the arrest. As it unfolded he made some very poor choices
and the MOS may or may not have made similarly poor choices. It is only fair that we all wait for the
truth to be revealed. The autopsy report
should be complete and released by this time tomorrow. Until that time everyone
should refrain from drawing conclusions and exploiting this sad event for their
own purposes.
Copyright The Brooding Cynyx 2014 © All Rights
Reserved
