Don't choke me Mags, but I agree with some of Al Sharpton's general sentiments at last night's press conference. (I don't agree with his assumptions in regards to the Michael Brown shooting, however.)

Video: Sharpton and the family of Eric Garner respond to the grand jury decision.


There will be a national march held in DC on Dec. 13^th to protest police brutality and advocate for change.

Eric Garner's death sickens me. This wasn't a racial bias crime, or a cop "self defense" crime. This was a crime about taxes. Eric Garner died because #1-he was selling untaxed cigarettes one or a few at a time (called loosies) #2-he resisted arrest for this completely ridiculous "crime".

New York City has the second highest cigarette tax rate in the US at $6.86 per pack. That brings the total to $12.85 for a pack of cigarettes. NYC Police Chief of Department Philip Banks III (who is Black) ordered the NYPD to crack down on the selling of loosies in the summer of 2014. IMO this action made the NYPD into tax enforcers instead of crime fighters.

No matter how you personally feel about smoking, it is still legal to do so in this country and people are going to smoke. The poor and minorities are more likely to smoke, and an EBT card doesn't cover cigs. People like Eric Garner shouldn't have to die because politicians believe that everyone should quit smoking but don't want to give up the revenue that the sin taxes bring.

(12-07-2014, 10:28 AM)Cheyne Wrote: NYC Police Chief of Department Philip Banks III (who is Black) ordered the NYPD to crack down on the selling of loosies in the summer of 2014. IMO this action made the NYPD into tax enforcers instead of crime fighters.

I recently saw that referred to as "quality of life enforcement".

(12-04-2014, 10:11 AM)HairOfTheDog Wrote: Legal Experts Weigh-In on Grand Jury Decision



[i]While legal experts note it's impossible to know how the grand jurors reached their conclusion, they say the Garner case, like Michael Brown's death in Ferguson, Missouri, once again raised concerns about the influence local prosecutors have over the process of charging the police officers they work with on a daily basis.

That is an extremely incestuous relationship. It seems to me that whenever there are questions about an officer involved death, a special independent prosecutor ought to be brought in as opposed to a local prosecutor.

I recently learned from a defense attorney that our local judges try very, very hard not to piss off our local prosecutors. Why?? It turns out the prosecutors have some ability (I don't know how far that extends) to request which judge hears their case(s). If a judge is known as anti-prosecutor, he/she can seemingly end up with a much lighter case load as opposed to another judge.

Isn't that k-nuts? There's a disincentive out there for them to side with defense attorneys on cases that aren't clearly cut and dry. Crazy.

(12-07-2014, 02:50 PM)username Wrote: It seems to me that whenever there are questions about an officer involved death, a special independent prosecutor ought to be brought in as opposed to a local prosecutor.

I agree with this and think it's an excellent idea. It's smart and I think it makes sense particularly when the eyes of the country are on you.

I read that in the Michael Brown death that it was unprecedented to have the officer spend hours before the grand jury relaying his side of the story. The DA/prosecutor did not want an indictment or he would have gotten one, it's that simple. That's where the joke of "you can indict a ham sammich" comes from.

(12-07-2014, 02:50 PM)username Wrote:

(12-04-2014, 10:11 AM)HairOfTheDog Wrote: Legal Experts Weigh-In on Grand Jury Decision
While legal experts note it's impossible to know how the grand jurors reached their conclusion, they say the Garner case, like Michael Brown's death in Ferguson, Missouri, once again raised concerns about the influence local prosecutors have over the process of charging the police officers they work with on a daily basis.

That is an extremely incestuous relationship. It seems to me that whenever there are questions about an officer involved death, a special independent prosecutor ought to be brought in as opposed to a local prosecutor.

I like the idea of a special prosecutor for contested officer-involved killings.

A special prosecutor has been suggested for the grand jury proceedings in the shooting death of Akai Gurley in Brooklyn last month. But, the D.A. says it's his job and he's the guy to do it. It'll be interesting to see how this case proceeds.

Story:
NEW YORK - Authorities say an unarmed 28-year-old man coming out of his girlfriend's Brooklyn apartment was fatally shot by a rookie cop in a "dimly lit stairwell" in what was likely an accident.

Police Commissioner William Bratton says the officer appears to have fired accidentally. Officers were patrolling the halls of the Pink Houses complex in the East New York neighborhood on a Thursday night when they encountered Akai Gurley. The rookie officer fired one shot. Gurley was hit in the chest. The commissioner called it a "very unfortunate tragedy. Bratton called the victim "a total innocent" who was not engaged in any criminal activity at the time of the shooting, CBS New York reported. (HOTD: Good to see acknowledgement of error in this case.)

Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson has called the shooting "deeply troubling" and said it warrants "an immediate, fair and thorough investigation."

Thompson released a statement Friday afternoon, saying he will conduct an investigation into the shooting and expects to present the evidence to a grand jury.

"As to those who have called for a Special Prosecutor to handle this case, I respectfully disagree. I was elected by the people of Brooklyn to do this job without fear or favor and that is exactly what I intend to do," Thompson said in a statement.

Refs:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/akai-gurley-...stairwell/
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/man-shot-dea...dent-nypd/
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2014/11/21/n...g-complex/

PROTESTS CONTINUE AND GROW

Police brutality protests took place all across the country this weekend. The "Can't Breathe", "Hands Up, Don't Shoot", "Black Lives Matter" and related protests aren't limited to black people protesting in black communities -- it's a multi-racial movement that seemed to grow stronger with the lack of indictment in the Garner case.


^ Grand Central Station Die-In, NYC


^ Berkeley, CA (this one got violent)


^ Anchorage, Alaska


^ On the St. Louis Rams Football Field


^ On the Chicago Bulls Basketball Court

Next Saturday, Dec 13^th, there will be a march on Washington DC led by Al Sharpton and the families of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. One of Sharpton's rallying points is removing fatal incident reviews from local prosecutors and local grand juries.

George W. Bush Weighs-In



Former President George W. Bush says a New York grand jury's decision not to indict the police officer who choked and killed Eric Garner was "hard to understand."

In an interview with CNN's Candy Crowley, Bush said his reaction to watching video of the incident that led to Garner's death was "how sad."

"You know, the verdict was hard to understand," he said. "But I hadn't seen all the details -- but it's sad that race continues to play such an emotional, divisive part of life."

Bush said the United States has improved since the 1970s, when he was young, and said he remembers "race riots with cities being burned."

Bush discussed the recent racial unrest that followed a Missouri grand jury's failure to indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, who is white, in the shooting death of Michael Brown, who was black, over dinner with his former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

"We talked about this subject, and yeah -- she just said, you gotta understand that there are a lot of black folks that are incredibly, more and more, distrusting of law enforcement -- which is a shame, because law enforcement's job is to protect everybody."

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/12/05/politi...=obnetwork

That cop should have been charged.