How to get away with murder? Be a cop.
Less than two weeks after a grand jury in Ferguson, Missouri, concluded there wasn’t enough evidence to indict on Darren Wilson for Michael Brown’s death, another grand jury in Staten Island, New York, came to the same conclusion for Daniel Pantaleo the death of Eric Garner.
Especially in Garner’s case, this outcome is unbelievable.
Garner passed away on July 17, 2014, after an altercation with five police officers that was caught on tape.
According to the person who shot the video, a man claiming to be Garner’s brother, Garner was in trouble for stopping a fight in a Staten Island sidewalk. The police were arresting Garner under the suspicion that he was selling loose cigarettes on the street.
After police officer Pantaleo placed Garner in a chokehold, the video shows Garner repeatedly saying he could not breathe. He collapsed shortly after and died in a nearby hospital.
An autopsy by the city’s medical examiner found his death was a homicide resulting from the chokehold and the chest compressions he suffered by the hands of Pantaleo after he was confronted for stopping a fight in a sidewalk.
But apparently a video depicting this event and a coroner’s report is still not enough evidence for a grand jury indictment.
If a police officer can walk away from causing someone’s death, despite having been recorded holding the victim in an illegal hold until he choked to death, it’s more than just a sign of police brutality. This comes less than a week after the Ferguson decision showing these aren’t isolated cases, highlighting a flaw in the entire American Justice system.
Grand juries determine whether enough evidence exists for a case to go forward to a criminal trial, either before a judge or a jury. Under the law, they operate in secret and hear only evidence presented by prosecutors, who also serve to present the laws to the jury.
The Staten Island grand jury examined the video during their deliberations. They conducted more than 38 interviews and located 22 civilian witnesses, and talked to the emergency responders who treated Garner both at the scene and in the hospital and still decided there wasn’t sufficient evidence to indict Pantaleo.
So who’s to blame?
Chokeholds are banned by the New York Police Department’s guidelines, so not only is Pantaleo responsible for Garner’s death, he is guilty of failing to comply with police code.
But the police are not the real bad guys in this situation. It’s the system put in place to determine whether criminal charges can be filed. And that’s what’s making recent events resonate in the public’s mind.
The justice system is supposed to ensure all Americans are treated fairly under the law, but when only state prosecutors — who depend on members of the police to ensure their reelections and to build their cases — guide grand juries, how can we expect them to advocate for the injustices caused by police officers’ actions?
Yes, there are racial implications in both Brown’s and Garner’s death that have surrounded mainstream media conversation in the past weeks, but what also needs to be addressed is the broken system that fails to punish the police when they abuse their power.
Political leaders have stressed the need to change the system by which we keep tabs on the police, but that’s not enough.
Either we make sure the grand jury is comprised of a truly diverse group of people, we change the way the grand jury is guided through their decision-making process to guarantee both sides of the story are considered or we get rid of the grand jury system altogether.
Change probably won’t come in time for the officers who shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice, and they will most likely not face charges either. But protesters across America are demanding change, and they won’t stop until they get it.
Jose Bastidas is a 21-year-old mass communication senior from Caracas, Venezuela. You can reach him on Twitter @jabastidas.