Protests in New York: Jury clears officer who choked Eric Garner to death

Protesters have invaded the streets of New York after a grand jury decided not to charge a white police officer who choked an unarmed black man to death.

43-year-old Eric Garner was put in a chokehold, which eventually led to his death, by Officer Daniel Pantaleo in July after he was caught illegally selling cigarettes.

His death was ruled a homicide by the city’s medical examiner but the grand jury ruled on Wednesday, December 3 that Pantaleo did not intend to cause Garner’s death with his actions.

The altercation between Garner, a father of three, and officers of the New York Police Department was caught on video and the deceased was heard clearly stating several times “I can’t breathe”.

Protests began in the city after the decision on Wednesday and continued into early Thursday and protesters expressed their anger with chants of Garner’s last words “I can’t breathe.”

Garner’s wife, Esaw expressed her disbelief at the verdict saying:

“Oh my God, are you serious? I’m very disappointed. You can see in the video that he (the cop) was dead wrong!”

Officer Pantaleo issued a statement after he was cleared expressing his condolences to Garner’s family and saying that he feels very sorry for the incident.

“I hope that they will accept my personal condolences for their loss,” he said.

However, Esaw Garner said in response that it’s too late for condolences:

“The time for remorse was when my husband was yelling to breathe, that would have been the time for him to show some remorse or some type of care for another human being’s life.”

“No, I don’t accept his apology. I could care less about his condolences. My husband is 6 feet under. (The cop) is still working. He’s still collecting a paycheck and I’m looking for a way to feed my kids,” Mrs Garner said.

President Barack Obama has also spoken out on the decision of the grand jury saying that it speaks to “the concern on the part of too many minority communities that law enforcement is not working with them and dealing with them in a fair way.”

The latest grand jury decision comes after a similar panel refused to indict Officer Darren Wilson for the August 9 shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri leading to a wave of unrest all around the country.