New York police sergeant charged in death of Eric Garner

[Fiesta]

Link to the Story

[font=Georgia, serif]A sergeant has been stripped of her gun and badge and charged internally in the July 2014 death of Eric Garner, the first official accusation of wrongdoing in the case that helped spark a national movement on the role of race in policing.
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[font=Georgia, serif]New York Police Department Sgt. Kizzy Adonis was one of the supervising officers at the scene of Garner's death on Staten Island during an arrest on suspicion of selling loose, untaxed cigarettes. She was not part of the team out investigating that day, but heard the radio call and was nearby and came to the scene. Adonis is black and so was Garner.
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[font=Georgia, serif]Officials said Friday that Adonis was charged with failure to supervise, an internal disciplinary sanction. Sgt. Ed Mullins, the head of her union, called the charge ridiculous and political.[/font]
[font=Georgia, serif]“She didn't have to go there — she chose to go there to help out and look what happens,” he said, adding it was Commissioner William J. Bratton, not Adonis, who is to blame. “This incident stems from failed policies that ultimately led to the death of Eric Garner.”[/font]

[font=Georgia, serif]The encounter, caught on video by an onlooker, spurred protests about police treatment of black men.[/font]

[font=Georgia, serif]Garner, an asthmatic father of six, was seen yelling, “I can't breathe!” 11 times before losing consciousness. The medical examiner ruled the death a homicide. Coupled with police killings of unarmed black men elsewhere in recent months, the death became a flash point in a national debate about relations between police and minority communities.[/font]
[font=Georgia, serif]No one has been charged criminally. Officer Daniel Pantaleo, who is white and who applied the hold, remains on desk duty. A grand jury refused to indict him on criminal charges. The chokehold is banned under NYPD policy; Pantaleo has said he was using a legal takedown maneuver called the seat belt.
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[font=Georgia, serif]No one else in the case has yet to face departmental charges, and the internal disciplinary review is on hold pending a federal inquiry, at the request of the U.S. attorney general for the Eastern District, police said.
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[font=Georgia, serif]But Adonis had been promoted to sergeant shortly before Garner's death, and the charges extend her probationary period until her internal case is completed, officials said. For officers not currently under criminal investigation, the department has 18 months to file internal charges. It wasn't clear if any other officers involved in the case would face internal charges by the deadline, which is Jan. 17.[/font]

 

[Decap]

Not an accomplishment if you ask me. I find it odd how a black guy was killed by a police officer and instead of the officer who did it getting charged, a black sergeant who had really nothing to do with it is the only one charged. It's like they said "Well we have to throw someone under the bus, might as well be another black person". Corruption tends to put the wrong people in jail while the guilty ones are free.

 

[Sacredavenger22]

I thought they established that the officer was just doing what he was trained to do (making it a NYPD specific problem). I could be completely wrong but if thats true why would they charge another officer if they wont charge the one who actually put him in the chokehold?

 

[Blizz]

Kind of not surprising especially after the other police related incidents that occurred months or about a year afterwards.