Second Eric Garner Video: New Footage Shows Police Ignoring Garner As He Lays Dying On The Sidewalk
A second Eric Garner video has emerged this week, showing the aftermath of the now-infamous incident with police milling around seemingly uncaring as Garner dies on the sidewalk.
The nearly seven-minute video has been around since this summer, when it was posted to Facebook by a disgusted bystander, but has gained new attention in the wake of a grand jury’s decision not to acquit officer Daniel Pantaleo for Garner’s death.
The second Eric Garner video shows police arguing with a crowd that had gathered to watch the incident. In the video, police had turned Garner on his side but failed to give him any medical attention, something that sparked anger among the crowd. Some pointed out that Garner had done nothing wrong, and in fact was the one who broke up the fight that drew police in the first place.
“Why nobody do no CPR?” asked one person.
“Nobody did nothing,” said another.
At that point, an annoyed police officer walked by and answered, “Because he’s breathing.” But the video started just minutes after Eric Garner had said seven times “I can’t breathe,” before collapsing and being slammed to the pavement by officers.
The video also captured officer Daniel Pantaleo, the one who put him in a chokehold that led to his death, walking around the scene and even waving to the camera. Pantaleo himself has come under fire, with USA Today highlighting three prior civil cases in which the 29-year-old cop was sued for allegedly violating the constitutional rights of others they had arrested.
The new Eric Garner video is sparking even more outrage than the first, with many accusing police officers of caring more about justifying their actions to the crowd than to giving medical attention to a distressed man.
Washington Post writer Emily Badgert wrote, “About Garner: If he appears in the first video as the subject of police aggression, here he barely seems to warrant their attention at all. About the officers: They betray no sense of urgency or concern as they wait for first responders. It’s as if the event were almost banal.”
The second Eric Garner video ends as a still-unconscious Garner is wheeled away on a gurney, with Daniel Pantaleo following and stopping to check his phone. Garner had a heart attack in the ambulance and died minutes later.
