A Grand Jury Did Indict One Person Involved In Eric Garner's Killing -- The Man Who Filmed It

[marmar]

On Wednesday, a Staten Island grand jury decided not to return an indictment for the police officer who put Eric Garner, an unarmed black man, in a chokehold shortly before his death. A different Staten Island grand jury was less sympathetic to Ramsey Orta, however, the man who filmed the entire incident.

In August, less than a month after filming the fatal July 17 encounter in which Daniel Pantaleo and other police officers confronted Garner for allegedly selling untaxed cigarettes, a grand jury indicted Orta on weapons charges stemming from an arrest by undercover officers earlier that month.

Police alleged that Orta had slipped a .25 caliber handgun into a teenage accomplice's waistband outside a New York hotel. Orta testified that the charges were falsely mounted by police in retaliation for his role in documenting Garner's death, but the grand jury rejected his contention, charging him with single felony counts of third-degree criminal weapon possession and criminal firearm possession.

In Garner's case, on the other hand, jurors determined there was not probable cause that Pantaleo had committed any crime. A medical examiner ruled Garner's death homicide in part resulting from the chokehold, a restraining move banned by the NYPD in 1993. ..................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/03/ramsey-orta-indictment-eric-garner_n_6264746.html

[bluestateguy]

1. "weapons charges" (whatever that means)

Thanks a lot, gun grabbers.

[nilesobek]

2. Keep filming these bad cops.

Its worth a little jail time if your up to it.

[napkinz]

3. what about this fellow ... what does he get? (an interview on ABC?)

https://www.facebook.com/TrayvonMartinsCause/photos/a.600127080021028.1073741828.592073270826409/914097128624020/

[m.bolden jr.]

4. What does Ofcr Pantaleo get?!

A book deal? Or a FOX gig, if he plays his cards right, maybe? If he can sound right, and say some nutty, thuggish stuff into a microphone,the Kochs may have him hired and groomed for a spot in their House of "Representatives".

[paper boy]

6. I think you (& pretty much everyone else really) are assigning too much blame to Pantaleo

please bear with me before flaming. If you look at what actually happened, Pantaleo didn't choke him, he "took him down" by the neck. Once Garner was on the ground, Pantaleo, released the choke hold and placed his hands on the side of Garner's head while his accomplices cuffed him.

It wasn't until Garner was down on the ground with Pantaleo's hands on his head, that he started indicating that he couldn't breathe. That he was able to clearly state 11 times that he couldn't breathe is very strong evidence that he was, in fact, able to breathe as there had to be air moving in and out of his lungs for his larynx to function. What he was actually reporting was "difficulty breathing" which is a completely different phenomena than "inability to breathe". This is significant because the coroner has listed the cause of death as "heart attack" and further claims that Garner died of this heart attack in the back of the ambulance. Difficulty breathing, incidentally, is one of the classic symptoms of a heart attack. Inability to breathe is a classic symptom of airway obstruction/compromise.

So, the coroner confirms that he died of a heart attack and further states that he dies of this heart attack in the back of the ambulance. And that seems like bullshit to me.

Once Eric Garner stopped saying "I can't breathe, he was unconscious and rapidly dieing from the heart attack he was experiencing.

Ultimately, Eric garner died on the sidewalk in handcuffs while A WHOLE GROUP OF COPS STOOD AROUND AND WATCHED INSTEAD OF DOING THE ONE THING THAT WOULD HAVE SAVED HIS LIFE, IMMEDIATE HIGH QUALITY CPR.

Honestly, I think it's worse than that even. I think they were trying to cover their collective asses between the time that Eric Garner went down and the time the EMS showed up to claim that he had a pulse. His chest was not rising when the EMT claimed he felt a carotid pulse. He had been down for like 9 minutes.... he was dead... again, because they stood around and decline to administer CPR.

So, Pantaleo took him down, but they all stood around and let him die for the crime of selling loose untaxed cigarettes. so they should all get the blame, not just Pantaleo. that's how I perceive it anyways. oh, and then there's the whole cigarette tax aspect of all of this. the cops were, in fact, following orders like good little nazis do.

[pasto76]

9. a cop just told me friday that a choke hold is 'lethal force'

using one if the same as drawing your weapon and firing. This LEO told me that if a cop uses a choke hold, he is in a 'fight for his life'.

Panto, clearly, was not. He used a banned procedure not as a defensive combative maneuver, but instead as an unlawful take down maneuver.

You realize the heart can still be beating without respiration. The carotids can still have a pulse, and will actually have a pulse at lower BPs than the wrist, femoral or dorsal pedal. I also think they were negligent by not providing first aid to an unconscious and non responsive subject. But just so you know, you dont do CPR is there is a pulse. Rescue breaths if there is no respiration...but only if you have a face shield.

[dotymed]

11. The coroner

listed this as a homicide.

[Lurks Often]

14. Homcide does NOT equal murder

Homicide
The killing of one human being by another human being.

Although the term homicide is sometimes used synonymously with murder, homicide is broader in scope than murder. Murder is a form of criminal homicide; other forms of homicide might not constitute criminal acts.


http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/homicide

[Doc Holliday]

5. Quite a catchy title for this piece.

It implies (rather broadly) that Orta was arrested for filming the Garner killing...which he wasn't.
Kinda FOX News-ish, really.

[sendero]

7. Unless he was framed as he claims..

... which I wouldn't doubt for a second.

[blkmusclmachine]

8. Horrifying. The cards really are stacked against us.

[KingCharlemagne]

12. There is absolutely no doubt that the movement for social justice will

occasion more martyrs as it continues. We must mourn each martyr, even as we hereby resolve not to be deterred from seeing the struggle through.

[Ms. Toad]

13. Second time this completely misleading title has been posted here.

I know it is the original title - but it is intentionally misleading, and we should be better than that.

The indictment of Orta is for an unrelated incident that happened earlier in the month. The only link is that the person who happened to be indicted for gun charges in a separate incident is also the person who happened to film the second incident. His grand jury charges had no direcct connection to filming Panatelo.