Asthmatic Man Dies After NYPD Puts Him in a Chokehold

[Syt]

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/07/horrifying-video-man-dies-after-nypd-chokehold.html?mid=facebook_nymag

Asthmatic Man Dies After NYPD Puts Him in a Chokehold; Horrifying Video Shows Him Telling Cops 'I Can't Breathe' at Least 9 Times

An unarmed 43-year-old father of six from Staten Island died yesterday after at least five NYPD officers choked and smothered him during an arrest. Eric Garner, who suffered from chronic asthma, diabetes, and sleep apnea, was about six-foot-four, 400 pounds, the Daily News reports, and had a history of arrests for selling untaxed cigarettes. "I'm minding my business," he says when confronted in the deeply disturbing video shot by a neighbor. "Are you serious? I didn't do nothin'. What'd I do?"

"Every time you see me, you're messing with me. I'm tired of it. This stops today," says Garner. "Every time you see me, you wanna harass me. I told you last time, please just leave me alone."

When the officers move to arrest him, Garner struggles until he's choked from behind by a man not in uniform, who then pushes Garner's head into the concrete. "I can't breathe!" says Garner in a muffled scream. "I can't breathe!" He repeats it over and over again, at least nine times audibly. Witnesses say the incident started when Garner tried to break up a fight.

An NYPD spokesperson would only tell the Daily News that Garner "was being placed in custody, went into cardiac arrest and died." Internal affairs has launched an investigation, with Garner's wife saying a detective has been in touch. "I'm sorry for your loss," he said, noting that he was involved "because there is wrongdoing."

[Caliga]

This stops today

He was right.

[Ed Anger]

Shouldn't have mouthed off to the cops. Doing like Dora the Explorer doesn't do shit.

Cops! No Arresting!
Cops! No Arresting!
Cops! No Arresting!

[garbon]

Why did you cut out the "That much seems obvious."

[Valmy]

Good press follows the NYPD wherever they go.

[Syt]

My takeaway from stories like these is:
- when dealing with U.S. police, be as unconfrontational as possible, even if you think the police are overstepping their bounds or you're in the right
- when there's someone at the door at weird hours of the night, open up, because it's likely a SWAT team who will storm the place and potentially shoot you if you don't react fast enough
- live as far away from possible felons, so that cops who forgot to check the address for a raid don't fire flashbangs into your baby's bed before they storm the place

[Valmy]

My takeaway from stories like these is:
- when dealing with U.S. police, be as unconfrontational as possible, even if you think the police are overstepping their bounds or you're in the right
- when there's someone at the door at weird hours of the night, open up, because it's likely a SWAT team who will storm the place and potentially shoot you if you don't react fast enough
- live as far away from possible felons, so that cops who forgot to check the address for a raid don't fire flashbangs into your baby's bed before they storm the place

Impressive you can learn so many essential skills at such a distance.

[Syt]

Why did you cut out the "That much seems obvious."

Because while I think this is one of many cases that a) shouldn't happen, and b) need thorough investigation, I found that last comment too judgmental. Wrongdoing as they put it here would IMHO require the cops to overstep their mandate either willfully or out of neglect, which they might not even have done, in which case their policies/procedures would require the investigation, not the cops.

[garbon]

Why did you cut out the "That much seems obvious."

Because while I think this is one of many cases that a) shouldn't happen, and b) need thorough investigation, I found that last comment too judgmental. Wrongdoing as they put it here would IMHO require the cops to overstep their mandate either willfully or out of neglect, which they might not even have done, in which case their policies/procedures would require the investigation, not the cops.

Gotcha. Well I would say that I don't think one can be judgmental enough when it comes to the police.

[Syt]

Oh, I'm all for keeping tight checks on them. At the same time, a defense in this case will probably along the lines that he was such a big guy, he had a history of resisting arrests from his cigarette dealings so they felt threatened, they needed so many guys because he was so big, and when he claimed that he couldn't breathe they thought it was a ploy to get them to ease off so that he could make his escape.

And they might not even be lying about it.

That's why I say the only way to play it safe is to fully comply. If U.S. police come to my house without warrant in the middle of the night to do a cavity search I would comply for fear of getting a bullet in my head or having any other "accident". (And afterwards I'd press charges, obviously.)

[garbon]

That's why I say the only way to play it safe is to fully comply.

Oh, of course.

[derspiess]

- live as far away from possible felons, so that cops who forgot to check the address for a raid don't fire flashbangs into your baby's bed before they storm the place

Fewer felons in your area generally means less aggressive cops, which is also a benefit.

[CountDeMoney]

Fewer felons in your area generally means less aggressive cops, which is also a benefit.

I dunno about that.  A bored cop can be as twitchy, if not twitchier, than a busy cop.

[garbon]

I guess I'd rather the NYPD doing the following if they have to indulge in a vice...

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/18/us-usa-crime-newyork-idUSKBN0FN05N20140718

NYPD detective charged with filing fake crime tip for reward

A New York police detective has been arrested and charged with filing a fake crime tip in an attempt to cash in on the $1,000 reward, prosecutors said on Thursday.

John Malloy, 46, was arraigned in state court in Manhattan on Thursday and pleaded not guilty to felony counts of forgery, and filing a false claim, and lesser charges of official misconduct and attempted petty larceny, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office said. He was released on his own recognizance after the hearing.

Prosecutors said Malloy, a detective with the department's Operation Gun Stop program since 2006, filed a fake tip report in November 2012 for a firearm that had already been recovered in Brooklyn. An arrest in the case had also been made without any tip, prosecutors said.

Malloy then forged the signatures of a fellow detective, a supervising sergeant and a police inspector in an effort to claim the reward, prosecutors said. The case was reported to the police department's Internal Affairs bureau for further investigation.

In a statement to investigators, Malloy said he forged the signatures merely to placate superiors who were pressuring him to file a report for a detective who took in a tip the night before, court documents show.

"I couldn't read his handwriting, so I recopied the form and signed his name and (the sergeant's name). I know I shouldn't have. I could have asked them to do it," Malloy told investigators, according to court documents.

"I was having health problems and under a lot of stress," he added, according to the documents.

An attorney for Malloy could not be immediately reached for comment on Thursday.

The Gun Stop Program is run by the New York City Police Foundation as a way for civilians to report illegal gun activity. Since its inception in 2001, tips coming into the program have led to more than 5,600 arrests and the recovery of 3,350 illegal weapons, its website said.

Police have approved over $2.1 million in rewards, the website said.

[Eddie Teach]

In response, Spike Lee burns down a pizzeria.