Officer James Frascatore deserves due process before any disciplinary action is taken, Mayor de Blasio’s chief spokeswoman said.
Mayor won't umpire case of cop bodyslamming James Blake
ERIN DURKIN, ELI ROSENBERG, REUVEN BLAU
Mon, 14 Sep 2015 00:33:25 GMT
- New York grand jury votes not to indict officer over Eric Garner’s death
- Obama on decision: ‘We are not going to let up’
- Grand jury declines to indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo
- Pantaleo: ‘I feel very bad’
6.15pm ET
Reverend Al Sharpton is now speaking with members of Eric Garner’s family and their attorney, on his show PoliticsNation.
“There’s a whole range of charges they could have considered here, the fact that they came up with nothing is really, in our judgement, outrageous,” said the family attorney Jonathan Moore about the grand jury’s decision not to charge officer Pantaleo.
5.50pm ET
New York governor Andrew Cuomo has released a statement saying Garner’s death was “nothing short of tragic” and calling for protests to remain peaceful:
The circumstances surrounding his death were nothing short of tragic. And while there will be people who disagree with today’s grand jury decision, it is important that we respect the legal process and rule of law. At the same time, the justice system also allows for additional investigations and reviews, and it may be appropriate for the federal government to do so in this case. And if there are improvements to be made and lessons to be learned, we at the state level are ready to act to better the system.
5.47pm ET
De Blasio says peaceful protest and nonviolent activism “is the only thing that’s ever worked” to bring about change. He discourages vandalism. He closes with a Martin Luther King Jr quote. “Injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere.”
De Blasio says “It’s all our problem. And anyone who believes in the values of this country should feel a call to action right now.”
5.43pm ET
The focus of the president and attorney general on the case “is powerful,” de Blasio continues.
“Change is happening right now,” he says, “because the people willed it to happen. .. .The people willed this change to happen.”
5.40pm ET
De Blasio continues: “Our history forces us to say black lives matter,” he says. “It should be self-evident.”
He says that investigations are ongoing. “There are more chapters ahead,” including a police department investigation and a federal probe, he says. “The federal government is clearly engaged and poised to act,” De Blasio says.
5.37pm ET
De Blasio says he and his wife, Chirlane McCray, have instructed their son, who is mixed race, on how to be careful around police in New York.
We “have had to Dante for years about the dangers he may face. .. Because of a history that still hangs over us, we’ve had to train him as families have... in how to take special care in any interaction with the police officers who are there to protect him.”
5.34pm ET
De Blasio:
“It’s a very emotional day for our city. It’s a very painful day for so many people of this city... We’re grieving again over the loss of Eric Garner... a man who should be with us and isn’t. That pain, that simple fact, is felt again so sharply today.”
5.31pm ET
De Blasio: “Tonight there was a particular sense of challenge and of pain.”
He has just met with clergy leaders and city council members and officials in Staten Island.
5.31pm ET
Mayor Bill de Blasio is speaking in an appearance on Staten Island. “There’s a lot of pain and frustration in the room, at the same time a lot of purposefulness,” he begins.
5.30pm ET
The Guardian’s Mae Ryan is at a protest in Times Square:
Dozens gathered in Times Square for peaceful protest #EricGarner pic.twitter.com/txXD0Wcu1V
5.28pm ET
Amnesty International urges the justice department “to collect and publish national data annually” on people killed by law enforcement officers,” in a statement issued this afternoon and attributed to Amnesty US executive director Steven W. Hawkins:
The death of Eric Garner, along with those of Michael Brown, Akai Gurley, Tamir Rice and others around the country demonstrate the need for a national review on the use of force by law enforcement officers. Amnesty International is urging the Department of Justice to conduct such a review and to collect and publish national data annually on the number of people killed each year by law enforcement.”
5.20pm ET
It’s time for peaceful – but disruptive – protests in New York City and beyond, writes Steven W Thrasher in Comment Is Free:
Some will say protesters need to be peaceful, to be respectful. They will say this after Daniel Pantaleo, the police officer who choked Eric Garner to death with a forbidden chokehold, walks free – news that is not any more surprising than the news that Darren Wilson was not indicted for the shooting death of Mike Brown.
And, yes, the protesters should be peaceful – but we need to be disruptive. Because the same structural racism exists in New York City that does in Ferguson, as it does everywhere in the United States. As President Obama said on Wednesday night: “This is an American problem.” And no holiday lights should be lit while the light of justice is snuffed out for so many.
5.13pm ET
Representative Michael Grimm, the congressman from Staten Island who won reelection last month but faces a trial on federal corruption charges in February, has released a statement “applauding” the “integrity” of the county prosecutor:
There’s no question that this grand jury had an immensely difficult task before them, but I have full faith that their judgment was fair and reasoned and I applaud DA Donovan for overseeing this case with the utmost integrity. As we all pray for the Garner family, I hope that we can now move forward and begin to heal together as a community.”
5.02pm ET
Rep. Charles Rangel, the long-serving congressman from Harlem, held a news conference to decry the grand jury decision not to indict officer Daniel Pantaleo. Rangel said that before Garner died, he was surrounded by police officers, and “no one else touched him, and the grand jury did not say he committed suicide.”
Yes. We've seen progress & change. But deep wounds don't heal overnight. #EricGarner #mikebrown #ferguson pic.twitter.com/Rs1YOIz7XJ
4.56pm ET
The Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association has released a statement by officer Daniel Pantaleo, who was filmed placing Eric Garner in the chokehold that caused his death, which was ruled a homicide.
Pantaleo says:
I became a police officer to help people and to protect those who can’t protect themselves. It is never my intention to harm anyone and I feel very bad about the death of Mr. Garner. My family and I include him and his family in our prayers and I hope that they will accept my personal condolences for their loss.”
4.51pm ET
A protest at Grand Central station in midtown Manhattan:
Protesters hold "die in" at Grand Central. #EricGarner pic.twitter.com/8IDqcOQQkS
4.48pm ET
President Barack Obama addressed the decision of a grand jury not to indict officer Pantaleo, in remarks at the White House tribal nations conference.
“This is an issue that we’ve been dealing with for too long...” Obama said. “I’m not interested in talk, I’m interested in action. I’m absolutely committed as president of the United States” to ensure equality before the law.
4.42pm ET
District attorney Daniel M. Donovan of Richmond County, which comprises Staten Island, has drawn an explicit link between today’s grand jury decision and the decision nine days ago of a St Louis County grand jury not to indict officer Darren Wilson.
Donovan’s office released a statement explaining the decision to convene a special grand jury in the killing of Eric Garner:
Clearly, this matter was of special concern in that an unarmed citizen of our County had died in police custody. For that reason, a dedicated grand jury was empanelled exclusively to hear this case, committed to serving in that capacity for the months the investigation would entail. All 23 members of this community who comprised the Grand Jury in this matter dutifully fulfilled that commitment by attending each and every one of the sessions that began on September 29, 2014, and concluded on December 3, 2014.
Recent events in other jurisdictions may have created unrealistic expectations regarding what can be disclosed regarding the proceedings of a New York grand jury. For example, the state of Missouri has enacted “Sunshine Laws” that permit disclosure of grand jury testimony and evidence.
4.32pm ET
The New York civil liberties union has called for an end to a police department “culture of impunity” after Eric Garner’s death in police custody.
“The failure of the Staten Island Grand Jury to file an indictment in the killing of Eric Garner leaves New Yorkers with an inescapable question: How will the NYPD hold the officers involved accountable for his death?” NYCLU executive director Donna Lieberman said in the statement:
And what will Commissioner Bratton do to ensure that this is the last tragedy of its kind? Unless the Police Department aggressively deals with its culture of impunity and trains officers that they must simultaneously protect both safety and individual rights, officers will continue to believe that they can act without consequence.”
4.28pm ET
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has issued a statement on the grand jury decision, in advance of an appearance scheduled for 4.45pm ET.
De Blasio says many people didn’t want “today’s outcome”. He urges “non-violent protest”. He also reminds people that two investigations into the incident remain open – a federal investigation and an NYPD investigation.
“His death was a terrible tragedy that no family should have to endure. This is a subject that is never far from my family’s minds – or our hearts. And Eric Garner’s death put a spotlight on police-community relations and civil rights – some of most critical issues our nation faces today.
“Today’s outcome is one that many in our city did not want. Yet New York City owns a proud and powerful tradition of expressing ourselves through non-violent protest. We trust that those unhappy with today’s grand jury decision will make their views known in the same peaceful, constructive way. We all agree that demonstrations and free speech are valuable contributions to debate, and that violence and disorder are not only wrong – but hurt the critically important goals we are trying to achieve together. [...]
4.21pm ET
Small crowd at spot where #EricGarner died. One protestor -- "This justice system died right along with #EricGarner pic.twitter.com/p86l7FKq4b
4.08pm ET
Good afternoon and welcome to our liveblog coverage of reaction to the announcement that a Staten Island grand jury has decided not to indict a police officer in the chokehold death in July of Eric Garner.
Garner, a father of six, died after being placed in a chokehold – banned under police policy – by officer Daniel Pantaleo. Police suspected Garner of selling loose cigarettes.
New York mayor on Garner decision: 'our history forces us to say black lives matter' – live
Tom McCarthy and Jessica Glenza
Wed, 03 Dec 2014 23:15:21 GMT
Lawyer ‘astonished’ as New York police officer will not face charges over death of Eric Garner in chokehold that was caught on camera
More than four months after an unarmed black man died in a chokehold during an arrest by a New York police officer, the criminal case against the officers involved in his death has collapsed with a special grand jury decision not bring charges, according to an attorney for the victim’s family.
The Associated Press quoted Jonathon Moore, who represents Eric Garner’s family, saying he was “astonished by the decision”.
Eric Garner: grand jury declines to indict NYPD officer over chokehold death
Lauren Gambino
Wed, 03 Dec 2014 22:43:50 GMT
In the wake of Eric Garner's death in police custody, a new Quinnipiac University poll finds that New Yorkers have different views on the New York City Police Department.
Poll: Views of NYPD Mostly Split by Race
Thu, 28 Aug 2014 03:12:02 GMT
Mayor Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner William Bratton on Monday said they are working to improve the relationship between police and citizens following the death of a Staten Island man earlier this month.
Mayor, Police Commissioner Examine Tactics in Wake of Arrest Death
Mon, 28 Jul 2014 19:43:14 GMT
A former top trial attorney and CourtTV anchor who now provides legal analysis on CBS, Rikki Klieman said her connections will be an asset as Bratton seeks to mend relations with the black community by overhauling the NYPD’s controversial stop-and-frisk tactics.
NYPD commish's wife ready for big supporting role
ANNIE KARNI
Sun, 19 Jan 2014 10:43:54 GMT
Stay out of New York, Mr. Bratton. Don’t come back. That’s the sentiment from a group of parents whose children were killed by police officers during the soon-to-be top cop’s first stint as NYPD police commissioner in the 1990s. BY SIMONE WEICHSELBAUM NEW YORK DAILY NEWS STAY OUT of New York, Mr.
Anti Bratton movement brews
SIMONE WEICHSELBAUM
Thu, 26 Dec 2013 23:56:02 GMT
By YOAV GONEN and DAN MACLEOD
Mayor Bloomberg’s off-the-cuff comments have finally come back to bite him.
Hizzoner declared yesterday that whites are stopped and frisked at a higher rate than minorities based on city crime statistics — giving instant ammunition to his political opponents.
“I think we disproportionately stop whites too much and minorities too little. It’s exactly the reverse of what they say,” Bloomberg said on his weekly radio show.
Bloomberg argued that black and Hispanic males are stopped disproportionately to the rate they are suspects in crimes — and that his critics base their statistics on the overall population.
Tomas E. Gaston
Mayor Bloomberg
But mayoral candidates seized the opportunity to take a shot at the man they hope to replace.
“The mayor’s comments seem to indicate that if you’re black or Latino, you’re automatically a murder suspect in the city of New York,” said Bill Thompson.
“What he indicates to the hundreds of thousands of people who are stopped and frisked unnecessarily in past years is that ‘we’re sorry we didn’t stop more people in the city of New York.’ ”
Public Advocate Bill de Blasio said he was “outraged.”
“[The mayor] literally said the police aren’t stopping black and Latino people enough — that by the statistics, there should be more stops, particularly of young men,” de Blasio said. “That is unacceptable. It’s out of touch, it’s insensitive, and I dare say it is hurtful to people all over the city.”
Christine Quinn also criticized the mayor.
“I disagree strongly with the mayor on this point. We have too many stops that overwhelmingly focus on young men of color, yielding very few weapons,” she said.
Bloomberg cited NYPD statistics stating that whites make up 7 percent of all murder suspects, but 9 percent of all stops. Meanwhile, 87 percent of those who are stopped and frisked are people of color, though they made up 90 percent of all murder suspects.
“I don’t know where they went to school, but they certainly didn’t take a math course. Or a logic course,” he said of stop-and-frisk critics. “People say, well, you know, cops shouldn’t be stopping so many of any one group . . . The cops’ job is to stop so many of groups fitting the description. It’s society’s job to make sure that no one group is disproportionately represented as potential perpetrators.”
His comments followed the City Council’s passage of two bills on Thursday aimed at curbing the practice. One bill creates an inspector general in charge of monitoring the NYPD, and the other makes it easier to sue the city for racial profiling. They passed with a veto-proof majority, but Bloomberg has said he would pressure council members to vote against overriding.
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly last month said as many as 75 percent of the suspects in major crimes were described as black, though they make up 53 percent of stops.
“So really, African-Americans are being under-stopped in relation to the percentage of people being described as being the perpetrators of violent crime,” he said on TV’s “Nightline.” The stark reality is that a crime happens in communities of color.”
Additional reporting by Jensen Werley
Outrage after Mayor Bloomberg says whites are stopped and frisked more frequently than minorities
Rafael MartÃnez AlequÃn
Sat, 29 Jun 2013 21:10:00 GMT
Mac Donald: If U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin rules against the New York Police Department in the racial profiling trial that concluded last week, she will rely heavily on the arcane statistical models of Columbia law professor Jeffrey Fagan, the anti-cop advocates’ favorite expert witness.
The great stop-and-frisk fraud
Heather Mac Donald
Sun, 26 May 2013 08:20:46 GMT
As two police officers took the stand Wednesday in the Manhattan federal trial regarding the NYPD's stop-and-frisk policy, a newly released police memo dating from March 5 shows that officers now have to describe in their own words why they made a stop-and-frisk. | See the full NYPD memo.
Memo Reveals NYPD Change To How Stop-And-Frisks Are Documented
Thu, 28 Mar 2013 02:30:11 GMT
After two FDNY EMTs, including the commissioner's son, were revealed to be horribly bigoted on their public Twitter accounts, the NYPD is sitting its own people down for a little lesson. The police department has issued its first social-media standards guide, the Daily News reports, reminding officers, "Members of the service should be aware that activities on personal social media sites may be used against them to undermine their credibility as members of the department." It's a little late.
From the gory message-board postings of the Cannibal Cop to the racist Facebook groups about the West Indian American Day parade, police officers have already had their share of embarrassments out in the not-so-new frontiers of social media. Recently, a captain used a Twitter account for his precinct to identify and warn of released convicts, but the new rules ban the creation of profiles for any specific precincts or units.
Individual cops are told "not to disclose or allude to their status as members of the department" and not to post pictures in uniform unless they're at specific events. But there are work-arounds for those who want to risk it, or just have to vent their off-color frustrations online: "Cops need to change their names on their Facebook and twitter accounts and use nicknames," said an anonymous poster on one public NYPD forum, calling the rules a violation of the officers' civil rights. "IAB will be using searches with their names," the person added. "Lol."
Read more posts by Joe Coscarelli
Filed Under: the internet ,nypd ,facebook ,twitter ,technology
NYPD Orders Cops Not to Be Racist on Social Media
Joe Coscarelli
Thu, 28 Mar 2013 12:59:44 GMT
The city has quietly made it more difficult to find out how much it's paying to settle federal lawsuits, the New York Times reports today, with the dollar amount no longer included in public court filings against government agencies including the NYPD. The Law Department has opted not to list the price tag, as it used to, but will give up the information after a phone call to the department or the filing of a Freedom of Information request, or if you do a funny little dance while Hula-Hooping barefoot.
"It is every New Yorker's right to know how their tax dollars are being spent," said attorney David Rankin. "And it is particularly important to know how that money is being spent when it is being used to compensate the victims of misconduct by our Police Department." Legendary media attorney Floyd Abrams concurred: "To the extent that this is a deliberate change of policy, it is inconsistent with a significant public interest and First Amendment value of the public having information about the behavior of its government," he said.
Throughout the 2012 fiscal year, the city paid out $583 million, down from $664 million the year prior. To find out where all that money is going from now on will take some extra digging.
Read more posts by Joe Coscarelli
Filed Under: lawsuits ,nypd ,civil liberties ,crimes and misdemeanors
NYPD Settlements Now a Bit More Secretive
Joe Coscarelli
Mon, 10 Dec 2012 17:35:04 GMT
A string of questionable and highly public police shootings has raised questions about New York officers’ weapons training.
New York Police Recruits Need More Gun Training in Real-Life Scenarios, Critics Say
By ALAN FEUER
Sun, 09 Dec 2012 04:27:18 GMT
SMH:
The NYPD released new crime statistics earlier this week, and here’s what we’ve learned: blacks and Latinos are shot more frequently than any other ethnic groups, blacks and Latinos shoot people at higher rates than any other ethnic group, and black people rarely get robbed.
According to a new report posted on the NYPD website, 96 percent of all shooting victims in New York City are black or Latino. Additionally, in 97 percent of all shootings in the Big Apple, the shooter is either black or Latino.
The report also finds that in 70 percent of all robbery cases, the suspect is described as black. In only 33 percent of robbery cases, the victim is black.
The report likely is an effort by NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly to support the department’s controversial “Stop and Frisk” policy, which critics say discriminates against minorities.
In other words, if Kelly can show that minorities commit more crime, he can justify the disproportionate number of minorities who are stopped and frisked.
“Stop and Frisk” has garnered new support during what’s been described as “the summer of the gun” — as you may have noticed, a lot of people have been victims of gun violence this summer, including several children.
Does this sound pretty accurate…thoughts?
Race Matters: NYPD Says Black People Rarely Get Robbed, But Are Always Getting Shot
Bossip Staff
Mon, 10 Sep 2012 12:51:27 GMT
Cops Cough Up $5K For That One Time They Dumped Shoeless Teen In SI Swamp
Cops Cough Up $5K For That One Time They Dumped Shoeless Teen In SI Swamp Two NYPD officers have agreed to pay $5,000 each to make amends for that one time they decided to punish an egg-throwing teen by taking his shoes and shirt and dumping him in a Staten Island swamp. Back in 2007, officers Richard Danese and Thomas Elliassen collared a 14-year-old boy who was throwing eggs at cars on Halloween. Double-dipping as judge and jury, the cops drove the teen to a swamp and allegedly kicked him repeatedly before abandoning him there without his shirt and shoes. [ more › ]
Cops Cough Up $5K For That One Time They Dumped Shoeless Teen In SI Swamp
John Del Signore
Mon, 25 Jun 2012 16:59:00 GMT
NYPD Convenes Possibly Useless Panel on Stop-and-Frisk
The NYPD bristled at a new bill introduced by City Council members earlier this month that would create an inspector general's office to conduct independent reviews of its programs. However, that doesn't mean they're unwilling to hear objections to policies like stop-and-frisk. In fact, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly has already started meeting with a new community advisory panel, which will discuss police tactics — but doesn't have the power to do much else.
The Wall Street Journal reports today that Kelly held the first of these panel discussions last week, meeting with twelve community leaders and clergy members from across the country. The first session included a presentation on stop-and-frisk and a primer on various crime-related issues in the city. Another meeting is scheduled for next month, and Kelly says he hopes the panel will be a "a valuable way to get information [from the community] back to us."
Those who are on the panel sound slightly less enthused. Per the WSJ:The Rev. [Herbert] Daughtry said he was first appointed to an advisory panel on police shootings in 1978 by Mayor Edward Koch and has been on a number of such panels since. "We've always been recommending stuff," he said. "I don't know if anything ever gets done. But we've got a pocketful of recommendations."
Presumably this isn't the decisive response those thousands of silent protesters were looking for.
Read more posts by Margaret Hartmann
Filed Under: stop and frisk ,nypd ,ray kelly ,crimes and misdemeanors
NYPD Convenes Possibly Useless Panel on Stop-and-Frisk
Margaret Hartmann
Wed, 20 Jun 2012 09:35:00 GMT
N-Word-Spewing Cop Admits to False Arrest, Insists He Isn’t Racist
At a time when criticism of the city's stop-and-frisk program is growing louder (or quieter, as the case may be), it may seem that the last thing the NYPD needs is an update on the officer who was accused of falsely arresting a black man after a street search, and was then caught bragging on tape that he'd "fried another nigger." Yet, Michael Daragjati thinks he can straighten this whole mess out. Yes, he did arrest an innocent man in April 2011, but as he explains in a letter to a judge:
I did so, not because of the color of his skin, but because he was rude and disrespectful to me ... I thought that if he received a (desk appearance ticket and was released) this person wouldn’t have learned a lesson that he should not be disrespectful to law enforcement.
He doesn't have a problem with certain races — just people who complain about unwarranted searches and dare to ask for his badge number.
Kenrick Gray of Staten Island spent two days in jail when he complained after a stop-and-frisk that turned up nothing. Daragjati claimed that Gray was resisting arrest and was later hit with a misdemeanor civil rights violation. To make matters worse, Daragjati was already being investigated by the FBI for extorting and threatening a man who he believed stole his snowplow. Authorities tapped a phone call to a friend in which Daragjati said of appearing in court, "I sat there for a couple of hours by the time I got it all done but, fried another nigger," adding, "no big deal."
Daragjati now admits that he shouldn't have arrested Gray, and is scheduled to be sentenced on Friday. In a six-page letter he promises the court that he'll never use the N-word again, even though he doesn't discriminate when it comes to using racial slurs. Per the New York Daily News:
“I know that I will never be able to convince the world that I am not a racist,” Daragjati wrote. “I know that I am not ... That word was not reserved for people of color, it was used as an ignorant reference to those people in the street because of their conduct and disrespect for the community and members of law enforcement.”
In what sounds like in an ironic twist, Daragjati wound up teaching himself a few life lessons. He now knows when to use the N-word (never) and he's probably realized that illegal arrests generally don't boost people's respect for the authorities.
Read more posts by Margaret Hartmann
Filed Under: crimes and misdemeanors ,nypd ,racism ,michael daragiati ,stop and frisk
N-Word-Spewing Cop Admits to False Arrest, Insists He Isn’t Racist
Margaret Hartmann
Mon, 18 Jun 2012 06:41:22 GMT
Not murder? Ramarley parents stunned by cop charge
INSIDE THE HOME where their 18-year-old unarmed son was killed by a cop, Ramarley Graham’s parents said Thursday they are “disappointed” by the criminal charges in the case and worried that no one will go to jail. Officer Richard Haste, who is free on $50,000 bail after his arraignment this week, deserved a tougher rap than manslaughter — and his bosses should have been arrested, too, the parents said.
Not murder? Ramarley parents stunned by cop charge
JANON FISHER, TRACY CONNOR
Fri, 15 Jun 2012 10:30:37 GMT
May 19: Stop-and-frisk, the FDNY and sex abuse
Brooklyn: Re NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly’s controversial stop-and-frisk program, I have a simple solution: The police can continue to stop every person of color they want, but they have to stop an equal number of Caucasians as well.
May 19: Stop-and-frisk, the FDNY and sex abuse
Voice of the People
Sat, 19 May 2012 08:00:53 GMT
Stop-and-frisk lawsuit gets class status
A federal judge granted class-action status to a lawsuit alleging the New York Police Department unlawfully targeted blacks and Hispanics with its stop-and-frisk crime reduction program.
Stop-and-frisk lawsuit gets class status
Thu, 17 May 2012 04:00:00 GMT
