The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age

    2014 Report: Banned Chokehold Routine with NYC Cops

    From the report by the NY Civilian Complaint Review Board, pdf link. You make conduct rules for the cops, and the cops just keep doing what they do, with no accountability if they break policy (and none if doing so kills). The choke hold on the late Mr. Garner was the rule for use by NYC cops, not the exception. From the Report:

    In July 2014, CCRB Board Chair Richard Emery, in the wake of the tragic death of Eric
    Garner and on behalf of his fellow Board members, asked the CCRB staff to undertake
    an objective, comprehensive assessment of chokehold complaints made to the CCRB.
    This study investigates chokehold complaints, primarily from January 2009 until June
    2014, in order to report findings and make recommendations to the Police
    Commissioner and the public. After documenting and evaluating five and a half years of
    chokehold complaints, their patterns and the likely causes of their persistence, this
    report recommends ways in which the CCRB and the NYPD can collaborate to reduce
    chokehold incidents and eliminate future chokehold tragedies. This report is an agency
    report prepared by staff as directed by the Chair.....For more than 20 years, the NYPD Patrol Guide has prohibited the use of chokeholds, relying on a Police Department rule that unequivocally forbids any pressure to the neck, throat or windpipe that may inhibit breathing. This rule was plainly intended to prohibit all chokeholds. As defined, chokeholds, though not illegal, are unambiguously prohibited by Department policy.
    This report reveals that officers have continued to perform chokeholds and, based on
    the complaints the CCRB received from the public, the use of chokeholds appears to be
    increasing despite the Patrol Guide prohibition. It also reveals that this crystal clear
    prohibition has been degraded over the course of the last decade.
    Put simply, during the last decade, the NYPD disciplinary decisions in NYPD
    administrative trials of chokehold allegations failed to enforce the clear mandate of the
    Patrol Guide chokehold rule.

    CNN, in What's the Point of Police Body Cameras:

    Despite the NYPD banning chokeholds in the 1990s, New York officer was accused of putting someone in a chokehold, on average, every other day from 2009 through the first half of 2014...

    Comments

    The Staten Island DA Daniel Donovan gave the other 5 cops who helped suffocate the victim immunity from any prosecution for their 'testimony' to the secret grand jury.

    Immunity? From what? They are criminals needing protection to talk, according to the DA?

    Since when does a cop testifying what he did on his job need special immunity? I thought they just did that with MAFIA turncoats?


    I was struck by the immunity thing, too. If they were all doing their jobs in good faith, they wouldn't need immunity. And if they weren't doing their jobs in good faith, then granting them immunity only to have the grand jury conclude there was no criminal activity on the choker's part--well, it sounds very weird to me.


    There is a new video showing the actions of NYPD and EMTs after Garner was motionless on the ground. No CPR. The EMTs calmly tel Garner they are getting a gurney.They said Garner was breathing and had a pulse. There was no urgency. No recording of heart activity. They said he died en route. This was a travesty.

    Edited: to correct my iPad spelling "helper"

    http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/harry-siegel-lonesome-death-eric-garn...


    Unf**##ing believable. No concern whatsoever that the guy may be in cardiac arrest or dead.

    No ABC's of airway, breathing, pulse check. A bunch of goons. I like the goon with the armored vest and the guy with the scary tattoos. Hey, 12-15 public servants stopped the sale of some singles! Cheers from NYC taxpayers!!...??

    They seem concerned the guy may not get up, and they may have to carry him. 

    3 days education will definitely not cure what ails the NY PD. I would expect more action from strangers or passerbys then these uniformed 'professionals'. A disgrace. As is Donovan the DA of Staten Island.


    The choke hold guy is the one waving at the camera at the end. 

    The guy has multiple lawsuits for abuse against him. Garner's wife knew his apology was a scam.