Some people cling to the belief that Eric Garner was killed by everything but the cops who killed him

Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com

Rep. Steve King (R-NY) told CNN that Eric Garner’s death was caused by his obesity and not by the choke hold administered by five Staten Island cops.

“You had a 350-pound person who was resisting arrest. The police were trying to bring him down as quickly as possible,” King said in an appearance on CNN’s “The Situation Room.” “If he had not had asthma and a heart condition and was so obese, almost definitely he would not have died from this. The police had no reason to know he was in serious condition.”

The confrontation between Pantaleo and Garner was also caught on video that showed Garner repeatedly telling the officer he couldn’t breathe. King said police hear that kind of thing all the time.

“But if you can’t breathe, you can’t talk,” he argued.

Wow, one hopes that if someone in Rep. King’s vicinity tells him they can’t breathe that he doesn’t respond by calmly informing them that they are, in fact, breathing since they can talk so stop whining. A person saying “I can’t breathe!” is in a state of medical distress. And it’s worth noting that Eric Garner did, in fact, die from, you know, not being able to breathe from the choke hold the five cops who held him down put him in. The New York City medical examiner agrees:

It was a homicide — and the chokehold killed him.

Eric Garner, the Staten Island dad who complained that he couldn’t breathe as he was subdued by cops, died from compression of the neck, the medical examiner said Friday.

The autopsy also found that compressions to the chest and “prone positioning during physical restraint by police” killed Garner. The manner of death, according to the medical examiner, was homicide.

You’d think that would be the end of that but there is nothing (aside from war crimes or military hazing) that brings out the inner Colonel Jessup of some people quite like the killing of unarmed black and brown people by police officers. When I put the Peter King piece up on Facebook and commented about the absurdity of his “obesity” claim, most commenters agreed with me (because I proudly shout into an echo chamber most of the time) but I did have one Facebook friend who wanted to play Devil’s Advocate.

I’m going to list the excuses he made, which may seem unfair since I and others argued with him but, fuck it, it’s my blog and it really doesn’t matter how we responded to him. If you’re Facebook friends with me, you can go to my wall and see the discussion for yourself. If not, I promise that his remarks stand on their own. So here we go:

On Garner’s 32nd arrest on the same sidewalk by the same police department he has an asthma attack, and nobody used his breathalizer to revive him? C’mon, cops did not know about his health risk.

Garner did not ask for his breathalizer like someone with asthma does when they can’t breathe. So how were the cops suppose to know what was wrong with him?

His heart attack happened minutes later, in the ambulance. He was unconscience but breathing at the scene, CPR wasn’t needed there.

32nd arrest at the same location for the same crime? Three hundred+ calls to the police by local businesses and customers. Someone felt threatened/harassed by this guy.

He had an asthma attack during the arrest. Same choking hold on non asthmatic person would not have killed that person.

Officer never had more than one second hold around Garner’s neck at any time on the video. He kept changing his arm positions. Had Garner by the jaw, then his throat, then hi shoulder.

MMA and WWE fighting has more dangerous choke holds than the officer had on Garner, see anyone die from those?

If you do not believe Garner’s asthma attack was the main reason he died, then you are out of touch with reality.

Sure, happens all the time! What causes an asthma attack is high blood pressure/ stressful physical activity. XXXXX XXXXXXXXXX, a classmate of ours nearly died twice from asthma attacks without anybody touching him, just scaring him in normal horsing around, scared the crap out of us, but both times he screamed for his breathilizer.

XXXX XXXXXXXX another of our classmates died from an asthma attack and followup heart attack when he was being chased by some kids at Marivue Park, remember?

So, if Garner was not breaking the law, the cops would not have been called, and he would be alive today, Monica

At one point I did ask if my Facebook friend thought that the coroner, who declared Eric Garner’s death to be a homicide after examining his body, was full of shit.

No, Donna, my education and experience in law enforcement, with Red Cross Safety training, Workshops in restraining suspect training says the coroner in this case is full of shit.

Okey dokey.

And who can speak when they can’t breathe? Try it out, hear how you sound, then compare that with the video. Garner way too clearly speaking, made it hard for the officers to believe him.

Coroner also said asthma attack and obesity contributed to Garner’s death. When a Coroner cannot place an exact time of occurance, like if Garner’s asthma attack happened before, during, or after the arrest, it is standard practice to list as contributing factor instead of main cause, which the grand jury received a full detailed explanation of.

Did the officers take down Garner Like they thought he was healthy or a health risk? Obviously the officers thought Garner was an able bodied, healthy person. So much for intent to murder him. Accidental, negligent maybe, but not murder.

Well, here in Arizona, cops are trained to ask the suspect if they need/have any medications/breathers in these types of situations, so you all can take it easy in our police. I have no idea why none of Garner’s arresting officers asked if he needed his meds/breather. Guess why the NYC Police Departments are getting a three day retraining workshop.

I can’t believe Garner did not ask for his breather. Standard asthma patient training.

I can’t believe Garner sold his cigarettes on the sidewalk in front of the store he bought them from.

I can’t believe Garner survived eight previous chokehold arrests but not this one.

I can’t believe Garner had just broke up a fight.

I can’t believe Garner did not have an asthma attack while breaking up a fight between teenagers, but couldn’t breathe when under arrest. Starting to smell fishy.

Note that he was talking about someone who died there.

Here he is, scolding us for using the phrase “death penalty” to describe Eric Garner’s death.

Since the death penalty was not administered, a take down was, there is no validity to indict any of the officers. Prove intent to kill for officer indictment. That did not happen during grand jury testimony, so no indictment. Deal with it!

Why didn’t the Officers or EMT’s perform a tracheotomy if they knew Garner had an asthma attack?

Because Garner was breathing the entire seven minutes til the ambulance arrived.

Which of the four videos are you basing your entire opinion on? CNN has shown two so far, grand jury saw four, FYI. Second video has witnesses asking cops why they didn’t administer CPR, oxygen, and they replied “He’s breathing, been breathing the whole time.”

Well at least Obama, Holder, and Sharpton are with you guys.

My Facebook interlocutor had an abundance of reasons why Garner deserved to die, none of which make any sense, considering what the coroner said.

Again:

Eric Garner, the Staten Island dad who complained that he couldn’t breathe as he was subdued by cops, died from compression of the neck, the medical examiner said Friday.

The autopsy also found that compressions to the chest and “prone positioning during physical restraint by police” killed Garner. The manner of death, according to the medical examiner, was homicide

But hey, Al Sharpton.

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