“Yo, I can’t believe dis!” My cousin shouted after slamming the door, causing a loud boom to roar through the house. “Dey just slammed me on da floor and went all through my pockets like I was terrorist or somethin’. I swear man dem cops cause more trouble den dey fix.” The look on his face was a mixture of disgust and frustration. His face was bright red and he clenched his hands as if he was about to strike like a wild lion.

On July 17, 2014, in Staten Island, New York, an African-American man named Eric Garner was killed by a police officer named Daniel Pantaleo by being placed in a chokehold because Eric Garner was selling untaxed cigarettes and then resisted arrest. I believe that the police officers that killed Eric Garner should be held responsible because first, they used excessive force, next, the victim of the incident, Eric Garner was killed and finally, police constantly abuse their power and if we don’t say anything it will continue to happen.

The police that attacked Eric Garner used excessive force and therefore should be held accountable for their actions. Eric Garner was no threat to anyone, he was minding his own business not being a treat to anyone in sight. I can confirm this because in the article, Hands Up, Don’t Choke: Eric Garner Was Killed By Police For No Reason by Sean Davis, it says, “And what was his crime? As the video shows (note: it is incredibly disturbing, so watch at your own risk), he wasn’t a mortal threat to anyone. He carried no weapons. He did not shove or attack any police officers in such a way to be considered an imminent threat to their health and safety.” This means that there wasn’t a real reason for officers to attack him so officers should be held accountable for the death of Eric Garner. This matters because it shows that officers, even in a minor situation go overboard and end up either killing or seriously injuring someone like Mr. Garner.

Another piece of evidence is from the same article. It says that, “York’s statutes on manslaughter are pretty unequivocal. Just going on the plain language of the law, the police officer who killed Garner certainly appears to be guilty of second-degree manslaughter at the very least:

§ 125.15 Manslaughter in the second degree.

A person is guilty of manslaughter in the second degree when:

1. He recklessly causes the death of another person; or

2. He commits upon a female an abortional act which causes her death,

unless such abortional act is justifiable pursuant to subdivision three

of section 125.05; or

3. He intentionally causes or aids another person to commit suicide.

Manslaughter in the second degree is a class C felony.

The second-degree manslaughter charge requires only two factors: 1) the person charged must have caused the death of the victim, and 2) the perpetrator must have caused the death of the victim via reckless means.”(pg 1). This means that the officers that killed Eric Garner should be in jail and should’ve been held responsible. It also means that the police officers used a move on Eric Garner that is banned so he shouldn’t have used the chokehold in the first place. This is important because it shows that the police are getting away with manslaughter and therefore if they aren’t punished they will think it is ok when it clearly isn’t. There should be justice for Eric Garner.

I also know that police should be held responsible because Eric Garner was killed. In this article it clearly states that Mr. Garner was pronounced dead shortly after the incident. I know this because the in the text, “I Can’t Breathe!” Police Overreact, Eric Garner and the Chokehold of Racism, by Shaun Ossei-Owusu, it says, “Garner died shortly thereafter, reportedly from a heart attack that was caused by the incident, but the official cause of death is to be determined” (pg 1). This means that the attack on Garner was the cause of death so the police should be held responsible because if it wasn’t for that attack Garner would still be alive.

The video clearly shows that Garner was alive until after the incident which means that he was killed by the officers. But people believe that that wasn’t the cause of his death. They think the cause of his death could be because he was overweight and suffered from many health problems. This is what Jim Meyers is trying to portray when he wrote the article, 11 Facts About the Eric Garner Case the Media Won't Tell You, when the text said, “The chokehold that Patrolman Daniel Pantaleo put on Garner was reported to have contributed to his death. But Garner, who was 6-foot-3 and weighed 350 pounds, suffered from a number of health problems, including heart disease, severe asthma, diabetes, obesity, and sleep apnea. Pantaleo's attorney and police union officials argued that Garner's poor health was the main cause of his death” (pg1). While it is true that Garner was overweight, he was perfectly fine until officers put him into a chokehold and slammed his face into a concrete sidewalk. Also the fact that Garner was overweight and tall could benefit my reasoning because since Garner was 350 pounds and stood at 6’3, the officer probably felt intimidated and caused him to be aggressive. This just means that people are trying to put irelevent things into the mix just to make it seem like officers aren’t the reason Eric Garner is 6 feet underground. In conclusion the officers are clearly the reason of the death of Eric Garner and should be punished. Sure he resisted arrest but that still is no excuse for police to be so violent, and yes sure he was overweight and had health problems, but that didn’t contribute to his death, a police officer’s arm around his neck was.

Another piece of evidence to support my reason comes from the article, Hands Up, Don’t Choke: Eric Garner Was Killed By Police For No Reason, by Sean Davis. It states that, “As the video shows, the officer clearly caused the death of Eric Garner, who was alive until the officer put him in a chokehold, a move which is banned by the NYPD for good reason” (pg 1). This means that officers killed the victim and not only that, but the move that was used that killed Eric is banned. This means that the police that killed Mr. Garner should be held responsible because a chokehold is illegal, so he wasn’t obeying the rules and if the officer isn’t held responsible it will show other cops that they can do whatever they want and get away with it, and that is clearly not the message we want to send to our officers.  

The final reason why I think police should be held responsible for killing Eric Garner is because police constantly abuse their power and if we don’t say anything it will continue to happen. In this article it talks about how a 17-year-old male gets gunned down by police in Salt Lake City. I can confirm this when the article, Salt Lake City Police Shooting Raises Questions, by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, it tells us  “...a 17-year-old boy who was in critical condition after being shot by Salt Lake City police.” And when it says “Bystander Selam Mohammad told The Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret News that he was a friend of the teenager who was shot as he turned to face police. ‘He barely even turned around, then boom, boom, boom — and he just dropped,’ Mohammad told the Deseret News, saying he was at the scene” (pg 1). This means that the Eric Garner case wasn’t just one incident of police brutality. It also means that police only constantly abuse their power is because there only let off with a warning. This shows that police should be held responsible for killing Eric Garner to show that they will be taking police brutality seriously so police aren’t so violent and don’t overreact to every little thing and take precaution into pulling the trigger to a gun or pulling out a nightstick.

While it is clear that the police that attacked Eric Garner should be held accountable, other would argue that the police were only doing their job and should not be held responsible. This is what Bob McManus believed when he wrote the article, Blame Only the Man Who Tragically Decided to Resist. I know he thinks the police shouldn’t be responsible because in the article it says, “Eric Garner was a career petty criminal who’d experienced dozens of arrests, but had learned nothing from them. He was on the street July 17, selling untaxed cigarettes one at a time — which, as inconsequential as it seems, happens to be a crime.Yet another arrest was under way when, suddenly, Garner balked. ‘This ends here,’ he shouted — as it turned out, tragically prophetic words — as he began struggling with the arresting officer” (pg1). This text is clearly trying to make Eric Garner look like a bad guy and make the police seem like the victim, which is obviously not the case. But, while it is true that he did resist arrest,officers were still too violent with him, the point of an officer it to make people feel safe and deescalate situations, but instead they made the problem worse. I know if I saw an officer putting someone in a chokehold I wouldn’t feel safe around an officer. But the whole point of an officer is to make civilians feel safe and not cause problems in the community, but solve them. In conclusion police officers should be held responsible for the death of Eric Garner because there are way more reasons why police should be held responsible compared to why they shouldn’t and officers will never learn that they can’t be too forceful if people always just let it slide. We have to act now if we want to make a change. My mother always said, “A close mouth don’t get fed.”

Due to the excessive force that was used upon Eric Garner, the police should be held responsible for his death because of the following reasons: they used excessive force, Eric Garner was killed and police officers constantly abuse their power. This is a problem we have in our world because African-Americans still aren’t treated as equally as white people. For example, this isn’t the first time a black man has been attacked and killed by a white police officer, yet still nothing seems to be done. Not only are police attacking black people, but they are also becoming too violent because they think they can get away with beating someone. First I want officers to be less violent and stop abusing their power because violence isn’t always necessary. Police becoming too violent can cause people to be afraid of them, when they’re suppose to feel safe around them. Finally, I want the people to, if you see police brutality, record it and report it  by going to the mayor and posting it on social media because we can’t do anything if people stay quiet. We need people to speak up so we can abolish police brutality for good!