No indictment for NY Cop choke hold death. Right call? More riots?

I am not going to dwell on the obvious, "if he had not resisted arrest, it would not have happened"... however, it did appear that the force used to apprehend him may have been a little excessive for the crime he was accused of committing. Having said that, the police officers really only had a couple of other choices; (1) simply walk away and forget that he was breaking the law and resisting apprehension or (2) continue to try to convince him to cooperate, which would have probably been futile.

It appears to me they did what they had to do, however, they should have let up on the choke hold (or whatever it will be classified as) when he was yelling that he could not breathe.

Interesting point that I have not seen much reporting on. According to a recent report, the cause of death was not from cutting his airway at the neck; it was from not allowing him to breathe due to chest compression. As such, the choke hold was not the cause of death and, therefore, the officer "everyone" is stating should be tried for murder, negligent homicide, or manslaughter did not cause the death and is innocent.

First, I think that the Grand Jury got it right in Ferguson, MO. They got it wrong in NYC. Way wrong. What I will say about this incident is this: The resulting riots/protests have been much more peaceful than those last week. Why?

In this case, based on video evidence, absolutely the wrong call. This case was a dad trying to make ends meet buy selling cigarettes. NY has some of the most freedom restricting laws. A choke hold for suspicion of selling smokes instead of just issuing a citation was definitely excessive force. Killing him, well, the officer should be tried for myrder. This case is the opposite of the Mike Brown incident. Mike brown had already harmed the officer and was rushing back to do it again when shot. Kudos to the Ferguson Grand Jury. None for the NY Grand jury.

I hope for no more riots, but that was the wrong call. Anyone who has seen the video knows that this was murder, even if only an accident, it was murder. If I choke someone on the street the same way they did even if only to protect myself against an assualt, I'd be tried by the court.

Indictments are very specific as I recall. I think the problem here is that the victim was not choked, but died from a heart attack related to his rough handling.

Bottom line? He was killed because the use of force was way too high for someone selling cigarettes on the sidewalk.

Riots? no. New York is very different than Ferguson. They are much closer, believe it or not, something about having lower Manhattan turned into a smoking hole.

Protests? yes. Because, well... it's the wrong call, and there probably should be a few protests, but my prediction is that they will be peaceful.

I call foul play! There is a reason that the chokehold was forbidden to use to detain suspects! The man wasn't even a threat to the police! Nevermind he was better than 400 pounds, asthmatic and had other health issues. He has a right to defend his innocence. Using the chokehold to a point of killing just to detain a man and then not giving him first aid after stating he can't breathe is just plain murder. I don't blame his family for not wanting an apology from the NYPD! The use of force by police officers has really gotten out of hand, especially when they kill children!

From what I see, he is being put in the choke hold wrong. I was taught in combatives that guy puts his bend in the elbow around the throat which allows the bicep and forearm to put pressure on the arteries. It is supposed to be a blood choke. Maybe I am wrong though

I believe it was the right call. I believe there was no "choke" hold applied as it was more of a head lock to take the individual down. Now think if you were being held down by a bunch of people what would you say to get them off of you. Possibly I can't breath. I am not saying it was handled totally correctly but we have to take into context why police officers do every day and the different situations they are put into. Very similar to what we go through overseas.

No, they would take the guns away from the National Guard. It is NYC afterall.

This was an interesting update that came out recently. Be sure to note who enacted the tax...

http://www.freedomworks.org/content/nycs-ridiculously-high-cigarette-tax-cant-be-ignored-after-eric-garners-death