New York – Family members of a man who died in police custody, the Rev. Al Sharpton and others met with federal prosecutors Friday to press for an investigation into the death.
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“The civil rights of Eric Garner were violated,” Sharpton said after the closed-door meeting with officials from the criminal division of the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn. “That led to his death.”
An amateur video shows a plainclothes police officer placing Garner in what appears be a chokehold last week while arresting him on Staten Island. The 43-year-old Garner can be heard gasping, “I can’t breathe!” Chokeholds are banned under New York Police Department policy.
Autopsy results are pending. One officer has been stripped of his gun and badge pending an internal NYPD investigation into Garner’s death and another has also been placed on desk duty. Two paramedics and two EMTs have been placed on modified duty.
Sharpton joined Garner’s widow, Esaw; his mother, Gwen Carr; and his daughter, Erica, at the meeting with prosecutors. Garner’s mother and widow walked solemnly into the U.S. attorney’s office, holding hands with Sharpton. No family members spoke to reporters.
Civil rights lawyers Sanford Rubenstein and Michael Hardy and the Rev. Herbert Daughtry, a longtime activist clergyman from Brooklyn, also attended the meeting.
They met with the U.S. attorney’s eastern district’s chief of the criminal division, James McGovern, and the chief of civil rights for the criminal division, Taryn Merkl.
The U.S. attorney’s office had no immediate comment, spokesman Robert Nardoza said.
Sharpton likened Garner’s death to notorious police brutality cases such as the 1991 beating of Rodney King in Los Angeles. He said the video shows that police and paramedics were indifferent to Garner’s suffering.
“There can be no doubt at some point of 11 cries of ‘I can’t breathe,'” Sharpton said. “There can be no doubt based on the videotapes that clearly the EMS workers and other police did nothing intentionally to stop the illegal use of a chokehold and there can be no doubt that the chokehold was used with intent.”
Sharpton said Garner’s family is asking to meet with the Staten Island district attorney’s office to “deal with the investigation there.”
His family will speak publicly for the first time at a National Action Network rally on Saturday morning.
As an officer of the court, I hereby request, invite and demand The Reverand Al Sharpton to visit Jersey City and make dilitant investigation of the the killing of Mr. Campbell, a’h. Mr. Campbell was a well-know thug who was shot down dead in the prime of his life. He was going to go into social work and help americans everywhere.
Sharpton is always around when it’s a white on black crime or a cop crime on a black–where is he when it’s a black on white crime? Or black on Hispanic or vice versa? Probably hiding behind Tawana Brawley’s skirts. He is the ultimate racist–exactly what he accuses us of being. If he really was a true civil rights activist (as they all claim to be) then he wouldn’t care what color the perpetrator is or what color the victim is. If this man truly died of the choke hold (remember he was an asthmatic) then, yes those involved should be punished–and not because Rev. Al thinks so.
To #2 -Brooklyn Mom-You are wrong; in fact, Sharpton approached the family of the late Gideon Busch, a religious Jew, who was executed by trigger happy cops in Borough Park, in 1999. He wanted to be of assistance, as an advocate for the Busch family. In fact, those cops got away with killing Busch. The cops claimed that Busch had a hammer in his hand, and was threatening them. Other witnesses stated that he was just standing where he was with the hammer, and couldn’t see the cops, as they sprayed mace in his eyes. The cops could have waited for additional units, and taken Busch alive. Instead, they took the easy way out, and blew him away. All five of them got away with shooting and killing Busch. The DA’s office did not indict them, and the feds did not prosecute them. Unfortunately, even when the feds do prosecute, in over 80% of the cases, the juries always acquit the cops, right or wrong.