National
Judge to Weigh Releasing Grand Jury Record in NYC Chokehold Death
Esaw Garner, wife of Eric Garner, speaks alongside Garner’s mother, Gwen Carr, left, during a news conference at the National Action Network headquarters in New York on Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2014 after a grand jury’s decision not to indict a New York police officer involved in the death of Eric Garner. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
Jonathan Allen, REUTERS
NEW YORK (Reuters)—A New York judge is due to hear arguments on Monday whether to make public records of a grand jury hearing into the case of an unarmed black man killed after a policeman put him in a chokehold while arresting him for peddling loose cigarettes.
After an unusually lengthy session lasting nine weeks, the grand jury voted in December not to indict the police officer, Daniel Pantaleo, for his role in the death of Eric Garner on a Staten Island sidewalk last summer.
Captured on video, Garner’s repeated cries of “I can’t breathe!” as Pantaleo holds him by his neck have become a slogan for protesters at rallies across the United States who accuse police forces of being hostile towards black citizens.
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