NYPD Arrest the Man Who Filmed the Police Lynching of Eric Garner

Hat tip to the Root

Silive.com reports that:

ST. GEORGE — Ramsey Orta, the 22-year-old bystander who shot the widely-viewed cell phone video of Eric Garner's fatal arrest on Bay Street, was arrested Saturday night on weapon possession charges, police said.

Orta and a teenage woman, identified by police as Alba Lekaj, were arrested just before 10 p.m., in front of 61 Central Ave., after leaving the nearby Hotel Richmond.

An NYPD spokeswoman said Orta and Ms. Lekaj were observed entering the hotel, an area known for drug activity, and exiting moments later. As officers from the Staten Island Narcotics Unit approached the pair, they observed Orta put an object in Ms. Lekaj's waistband, the spokeswoman said.

Police identified the object as an unloaded .25 caliber Norton handgun that had been reported stolen in Michigan in 2007, the spokeswoman said. Officers also found marijuana on Ms. Lekaj, she said.

Both Orta and Ms. Lekaj were charged with second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. Orta additionally was hit with third-degree criminal possession of a weapon, for possessing a firearm with a previous conviction. Ms. Lekaj also faces marijuana possession charges, police said.

Orta, who has three other criminal cases pending, according to online court records, is likely to be arraigned Monday, a source with knowledge of the investigation said...

New York City Patrolmen's Benevolent Association president Patrick J. Lynch released a statement on Orta's arrest, linking it to the NYPD's response on July 17 that Orta caught on video.

"The arrest of Ramsey Orta for criminal possession of a firearm only underscores the dangers that brought police officers to respond to a chronic crime condition in that community," the statement reads. "Sadly, in the effort to keep neighborhoods like Tompkinsville safe, a tragedy occurred. But that doesn't change the fact that police officers routinely risk their lives for the benefit of the community and that they have earned their support and understanding."

Lynch added that by demonizing police officers for doing their job, it is "criminals like Mr. Orta who carry illegal firearms who stand to benefit the most."

Obviously, the timing of Mr. Orta's arrest is suspect. It follows the issuance of the medical report ruling that Eric Garner's death was a homicide. This arrest appears to be a naked effort to discredit Mr. Orta and to protect the NYPD. I would not be surprised if it was a set up. Unfortunately, many police officers will go a long way to protect their own.

Even if Mr. Orta's arrest is legitimate, it does not negate the facts.  The video footage is undeniable.  Those damn pigs basically lynched Eric Garner over some freaking cigarettes.

Justice for Eric Garner: Death Ruled a Homicide

Daily News reports that:

It was a homicide — and the chokehold killed him.

Eric Garner, the Staten Island dad who complained that he couldn’t breathe as he was subdued by cops, died from compression of the neck, the medical examiner said Friday.

The autopsy also found that compressions to the chest and “prone positioning during physical restraint by police” killed Garner. The manner of death, according to the medical examiner, was homicide.

Garner’s widow told the Daily News she was relieved that the coroner finally confirmed what she suspected since her husband died on July 17.

“Thank God the truth is finally out,” Esaw Garner said. “Thank God for that.”

Staten Island prosecutors are still investigating the 43-year-old man’s death. No one has been charged.

The announcement from the medical examiner’s office was the latest development in a case that sparked national outrage after The News obtained a sickening cell phone video. It showed Officer Daniel Pantaleo using the banned chokehold on the father of six.

Police say they approached Garner because he was selling unlicensed cigarettes — better known as loosies — and that he resisted arrest.

The medical report confirms what we already knew. The police killed Eric Garner over some damn cigarettes.

Eric Garner did not threaten the police.  He was unarmed.  He did not punch or swing at the police.    He had his hands in the air. While his hands were in the air, a cowardly, punk cop, Officer Daniel Pantaleo, jumped behind Eric Garner and strangled the life out of him. Basically, this is a modern day lynching. After the investigation is complete, I hope that Pantaleo is brought to justice. Justice for Eric Garner!

NYPD Cop Chokes A Brother to Death

Daily News Reports that:

A 400-pound asthmatic Staten Island dad died Thursday after a cop put him in a chokehold and other officers appeared to slam his head against the sidewalk, video of the incident shows.

“I can’t breathe! I can’t breathe!” Eric Garner, 43, repeatedly screamed after at least five NYPD officers took him down in front of a Tompkinsville beauty supply store when he balked at being handcuffed.

Within moments Garner, a married father of six children with two grandchildren, stopped struggling and appeared to be unconscious as police called paramedics to the scene. An angry crowd gathered, some recording with smartphones.

“When I kissed my husband this morning, I never thought it would be for the last time,” Garner’s wife, Esaw, told the Daily News.

She got no details from police until after she had gone to the hospital to identify his body, she said.

Read more here.

News Day reports that:

Chokeholds are prohibited by the New York City Police Department and most departments," Bratton said at the news conference. The commissioner added that "Mr. Garner repeatedly complained of difficulty breathing as the officers wrestled him to the ground."

An ambulance was called and Garner went into cardiac arrest while he was being taken to Richmond University Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead, Bratton said. However, he added that the medical examiner will rule on the cause of death.

De Blasio and Bratton said that a final determination of any breaking of law or departmental regulations would be made after an investigation by the Staten Island District Attorney's office and police internal affairs.

Here is yet another example of police brutality and racism. The police did not have a legitimate reason to stop and arrest Eric Garner.  He was not violating any law. Mr. Garner did not pose a threat to the police. Obviously, the brother did not deserve to have his life choked away. Now, his family must sadly mourn the lost a husband, a father and a grandfather gone too soon.

Many African Americans voted for De Blasio based on his promise to improve the relationship between the black community and the police. The killing of Eric Garner is a brutal reminder that institutional racism will not automatically disappear with an election. In fact, police brutality and racial profiling may be permanent fixtures in the American life.

How many black men must die at the hands of the cops?! How many justice marches and rallies must we have?  Every other day, there is a new victim and a new demand for justice. Today's rallying cry is justice for Eric Garner. Unfortunately, tomorrow, it will be someone else.

The Violence Will Never Stop!

Over the past week, two sickening tragedies occurred. The first one is the killing of six month old Jonylah Watkins. The Huffington Post reports that:

The 6-month-old infant girl shot five times on Chicago's South Side Monday died in the hospital Tuesday morning.

Jonylah Watkins was rushed to Comer Children's Hospital Monday afternoon in serious-to-critical condition after being shot in the 6500 block of South Maryland Avenue in the city's Woodlawn neighborhood around 12:48 p.m. Her father, Jonathan Watkins, had been changing her diaper in the front passenger seat of a Chevy Venture minivan when a gunman approached them and opened fire. He fled in a waiting van.

Jonylah had sustained wounds in her lung, liver, leg, shoulder and bowel or intestine, according to DNAinfo Chicago, and had undergone at least five hours of surgery.

The second story is the police killing of Kimani Gray. The Huffington Post reports that:

Carol Gray, her head wrapped in a black scarf and her tearful eyes concealed by sunglasses, held up a photograph of her 16-year-old son, who was shot and killed by police.

The picture revealed a grinning boy wearing a blue cap and gown, his arms wrapped around his mother. It was taken the day he graduated from middle school.

"He was slaughtered," Gray told a room filled with reporters. "And I want to know why."

Gray held a sorrowful press conference on Thursday to talk about her son, Kimani Gray, the kid nicknamed Kiki, who died on Saturday night after being shot seven times by two police officers. Police say the plainclothes officers opened fire after Gray pointed a gun at them.

A .38-caliber revolver purchased in Florida was recovered from the scene.

Gray was killed in front of his best friend's house as he left a Sweet 16 birthday party, said his grieving mother, who doesn't believe he could have pointed a gun at police.

"Today was very hard," she said, and paused for a long moment before she was able to finish the sentence. "I had to choose the color of the casket that I wanted."

The teenager's death has provoked outrage in East Flatbush, the working-class area of Brooklyn where he lived and died, a place that is among the city's most dangerous neighborhoods. Long-simmering resentment against the police officers who patrol these streets has erupted into violence in recent days, with 46 people arrested in the most recent protest on Wednesday night.

Inner city violence and police brutality are twin evils that plague our communities. They are symbiotic and seemingly permanent. No matter who is in the White House, the state house, or the city hall, those evils continue to exist. Under Democrats and Republicans, those problems continue to exist. After all the prayer vigils, marches, rallies, speeches, punditry and even rebellions, inner city violence and police brutality continue to exist. Since the 1980s, we have been talking about stopping the violence.  Since forever, we have been fighting to end police brutality.

Every day, from Baltimore to Chicago to Los Angeles, we hear about the shooting and killing of another black youth by another black youth. It is so routine and regular that we become emotionally numb to it. We expect it like we expect the sun to raise. When these young brothers and sisters die, there are no national photo ops. When these young brothers and sisters die, there are no national calls for gun control. Our communities are an afterthought.

The victims are usually killed by their own "brothers and sisters". Although they are not killed by white racist skinheads and KKK members, they are killed by institutionalized racism, unemployment, poverty, inferior education, ignorance and benign neglect combined with the influx of guns and narcotics. As long as those problems remain unabated, inner city violence will persist.

Only a couple of months after the death of Hadiya Pendleton, Chicago gang violence has taken another precious life. At the tender age of 6 months, Jonylah Warkins' life was snuffed out by gangsters. Not even the babies are safe in this cold violent world. In the movies, even the gangsters have a code. They do not kill children. In real life, they don't give a damn.

Such senseless violence perpetuates the stereotype that black men are inherently violent and dangerous. Unlike white people, we are not judged as individuals. We are judged and punished as a collective. After Newtown, Columbine, Aurora, Oklahoma City and all the other massacres committed by white males, police did not start profiling white men.

However, racial profiling is an immutable part of the black experience. African Americans are viewed as thugs, gangsters, killers and drug dealers. Sadly, that perception is fueled by media. Every day on the news, we are bombarded with images of black men as criminal suspects. We see black men being put in shackles like slaves. We hear about black male suspects killing innocent children like Hadiya Pendleton and Jonylah Watkins. All of those things make the public in general and the police in particular fear the black man. Such perceptions breed police misconduct and brutality. They give the police a license to stop, frisk, humiliate and kill black people. As long as those conditions exist, the cycle of violence will never stop. We continue to read about the Kimani Grays, Sean Bells, Amadou Diallos, Rodney Kings and Oscar Grants.

We Must End Racial Profiling Now!

The New York City Police Department has an abysmal track record when it comes to the treatment of black men. Remember Sean Bell, Abner Louima, Amadou Diallo and countless other victims of police brutality. Recently, NYPD has been in the news because of its controversial stop and humiliate policy. As reported in the New York Times,

In a slow, somber procession, several thousand demonstrators conducted a silent march on Sunday down Fifth Avenue to protest the New York Police Department’s stop-and-frisk policies, which the organizers say single out minority groups and create an atmosphere of martial law for the city’s black and Latino residents.

An earlier New York Times article entitled Injustices of Stop and Frisk noted that:

The statistics are getting worse by the year. Last week, the New York Civil Liberties Union released a report — based on the department’s data — showing the number of street stops had grown to 685,724 in 2011 from about 97,000 in 2002, the year Mayor Michael Bloomberg took office. On Friday, the Police Department released data showing that the stops have occurred at an even higher pace for the first three months of this year.

The city has repeatedly argued that the program helps to keep guns off the street. But the N.Y.C.L.U.’s analysis found that the proportion of gun seizures to stops has fallen sharply — only 780 guns were confiscated last year, not much more than the 604 guns seized in 2003, when officers made 160,851 stops. Young black and Hispanic men continued to be stopped in disproportionate numbers. They are only 4.7 percent of the city’s population, yet these males, between the ages of 14 and 24, accounted for 41.6 percent of stops last year. More than half of all stops were conducted because the individual displayed “furtive movements” — which is so vague as to be meaningless.

The data also show that the police are significantly more likely to use force when they stop blacks and Hispanics than when they stop whites. This means minority targets are more likely to be slammed against walls or spread-eagled while officers go through their belongings. Even when victims are unhurt, they are likely to develop a deep and abiding distrust of law enforcement.

For all this, only about 6 percent of stops lead to arrests. But the stops can also end with officers writing summonses for minor infractions like disorderly conduct. The police issue more than 500,000 summonses a year, most not arising from street stops but as part of the “quality of life” campaign the department embarked on in the 1990s.

New York's stop-and-frisk policy is racist and senseless. It assumes that most young black and Latino men are killers and drug dealers. In the eyes of many police officers, black skin is a badge criminality and dishonor. Sadly, that badge has become a warrant for harassment, humiliation, degradation and even brutality.

In addition to being racist, stop-and-frisk is ineffective and a waste of resources. The vast majority (approximately 94%) of those stopped are innocent. They are not carrying firearms or drugs. Instead of collectively punishing and harassing black and Latino people, police departments should narrowly focus on the people who are actually committing crimes.

Not only is stop-and-frisk ineffective, such racial profiling makes communities less safe by unnecessarily diverting manpower and by fermenting distrust. The community will never trust or cooperate with police departments who harass and brutalize. Without such vital cooperation, the actual criminals will remain free to roam the streets.

We must end racial profiling now.

This article is cross-posted on Jack and Jill Politics.