It’s legal to kill black people in this country if you are a police officer. This is not hyperbole.
A Staten Island grand jury has voted not to bring criminal charges against the white New York City police officer at the center of the Eric Garner case, a person briefed on the matter said Wednesday.
The decision was reached on Wednesday after months of testimony including from the officer, Daniel Pantaleo, who used a chokehold to restrain Mr. Garner, who died after a confrontation. It came less than two weeks after a grand jury in Ferguson, Mo., declined to bring charges against a white officer who fatally shot an unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown.
I am not talking about it being difficult to convict a police officer who kills a black person. I’m saying that no defense is even necessary. The whole thing can be captured on film. An illegal chokehold can be used. It doesn’t matter. If you’re a police officer, you won’t even have to explain yourself in front of a judge.
In this case, an asthmatic man was killed while being arrested for selling cigarettes. Was it murder? Was it manslaughter? Was it negligent?
No. Not legally, anyway. It wasn’t anything, actually. It was just a man dying on the street. On film. There is no need to file charges. No legal defense need be argued.
The police killed a man and it means nothing. Essentially, it never happened.
Sometimes, the police just kill a guy in the line of duty, and that’s pretty much the same as when they don’t kill a guy. No difference.
“Hi, honey, how was work today?”
“Pretty good. Killed a guy.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. Choked him out.”
“…I made chicken.”
“Great. I’m hungry.”
Like that.
People are going to complain about this, but it’s pretty much just how shit goes these days.
