As it happens, I presaged this Department of Justice (DOJ) decision. This, despite that heartrending video of a white cop, Daniel Pantaleo, choking these infamous last words out of a black man, Eric Garner:
I can’t breathe.
Here in part is what I wrote in “DOJ: No Charges Warranted in Zimmerman Case,” February 25, 2015:
____________________
Those who took to the streets to avenge Trayvon’s death will not see this DOJ decision as justice served. What’s more, I am all too mindful that they are the same protesters/rioters who took to the streets to avenge the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner.
But this Zimmerman decision should temper their equally restive demands for the DOJ to file charges against white officers Wilson and Pantaleo – who killed Brown and Garner, respectively. After all, even a civil rights agitator like Rev. Al Sharpton must concede that, if facts in the Zimmerman case ‘did not meet the high standard for a federal hate crime prosecution,’ facts in these two other cases don’t stand a snowball’s chance in Hell of meeting it.
AG Holder made quite a public show of going to Ferguson. But this only raised unreasonable expectations among Brown’s avenging supporters. Because Holder knew, or should have known, that his DOJ investigation would not lead to federal charges in any of these cases. So, if you’re wondering why he went there, I have two political, not legal, words for you: racial pandering.
Mind you, for the black lawyers and civil-rights leaders involved, justice in these cases comes with their cut of millions from inevitable civil settlements. And that’s not me just being my cynical self:
Al Sharpton is all about the Benjamins, a daughter of police chokehold victim Eric Garner claims in a bombshell videotape.
(New York Post, February 24, 2015)
In any event … their rallying cries of ‘no justice, no peace’ will now ring hollow – given that justice in this case was dispensed by a DOJ headed by a black man, for a government headed by another … brother.
____________________
Indeed, given this last point, it follows that a DOJ headed by a political sycophant, William Barr, for a government headed by a racist president, Donald Trump, would find no charges are warranted in this case:
The Justice Department will not bring federal charges against a New York Police Department officer accused of fatally choking Eric Garner, the New York man whose last words, ‘I can’t breathe,’ became a rallying cry in the Black Lives Matter movement. …
Meanwhile, the NYPD has brought departmental charges [and, if found guilty of using the chokehold and restricting Garner’s breathing,] he could face discipline ranging from loss of vacation days to the loss of his job.
(CNN, July 16, 2019)
The NYPD will fire him. After all, it has already indicated that Pantaleo did not follow proper departmental procedures in apprehending Garner.
No doubt it will hope doing so cools off simmering racial tensions. But I suspect it will also want to provide Garner’s family members some measure of justice; that is, beyond the $5.9 million the city has already paid them to settle the inevitable civil suit. And, you can bet your bottom dollar, the avenging lawyers and civil-rights leaders got their cut off the top.
Related commentaries:
Zimmerman case…
cops escape charges again…
Legacy Note: With over 5,600 posts spanning 20 years, I am easily the most prolific blogger on the most eclectic array of topics on the web. That makes The iPINIONS Journal an unparalleled archive of informed political and cultural commentary. Visit the ARCHIVES section in the sidebar or search by topic. You won’t find a more consistent, independent voice on world affairs.