"There isn't enough evidence to bring charges." - Brooklyn U.S. Attorney's office, as reported in CNN article June 2, 2016: "Feds at odds over charges in Eric Garner case"
Why is the chokehold story now officially being doubted? We have some insights.
More excerpts from the CNN article: (Click the button to go there.)
More excerpts from the CNN article: (Click the button to go there.)
"Some officials led by Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Robert Capers and FBI agents investigating the case have advised superiors that there isn't enough evidence to bring charges."
"And another complication is a dispute of whether Pantaleo used a chokehold, and if so for how long and whether it was enough force to kill Garner."
(July 2016 update: This story is now being widely reported.)
Disrupting the chokehold story - Tendlightt Journalism
Our investigation will explain these developments.
The Eric Garner incident was extremely emotional, and this seems responsible for the media making mistakes, which misled everyone. We start by examining a false statement from CBS News. This is done using a short video we produced. This leads to a long list of major news organizations that made similar mistakes. Then in Part 2, we see a critical error everyone made by not slowing down the original arrest video. (We produced a second short video to show this.) The new conclusion for this incident? Vastly different.
Please come along, especially if you like a good controversy.
Please come along, especially if you like a good controversy.
Part 1
How did this happen? CBS News published the following statement:
"The cell phone video of the last moments of Eric Garner's life was watched millions of times on the Internet, clearly showing a white police officer holding the unarmed black man in a chokehold, even as he repeatedly gasped, 'I can't breathe.'"
(CBS News, "Why no criminal charges in Eric Garner's death?" 12/4/14)
"The cell phone video of the last moments of Eric Garner's life was watched millions of times on the Internet, clearly showing a white police officer holding the unarmed black man in a chokehold, even as he repeatedly gasped, 'I can't breathe.'"
(CBS News, "Why no criminal charges in Eric Garner's death?" 12/4/14)
... even as he repeatedly gasped, 'I can't breathe.'
The reality is that the officer had removed his arm from around the neck before those repeated pleas. (Other news organizations made similar statements, suggesting everyone's understanding of this entire incident may be distorted.)
We produced the following short video to carefully show this, using excerpts of the original arrest video. We use on-screen commentary throughout. It's about a minute and a half long.
A timer appears in the lower left of the video. It begins when Officer Pantaleo first grabs Mr. Garner's right shoulder. Timings of events will be important.
We produced the following short video to carefully show this, using excerpts of the original arrest video. We use on-screen commentary throughout. It's about a minute and a half long.
A timer appears in the lower left of the video. It begins when Officer Pantaleo first grabs Mr. Garner's right shoulder. Timings of events will be important.
Summary:
0:00-0:11 ... Takedown
0:12-0:17 ... Arm removed from neck
0:16-0:30 ... Series of I-can't-breathe's
0:00-0:11 ... Takedown
0:12-0:17 ... Arm removed from neck
0:16-0:30 ... Series of I-can't-breathe's
To be very clear: CBS News stated Officer Pantaleo held Eric Garner in a chokehold "even as he repeatedly gasped 'I can't breathe.'"
We have just clearly demonstrated: This is false.
As we said, CBS News wasn't alone. The following links present many other inaccurate statements from major news organizations and other media.
Each group has its own characteristic, explained in each introduction. An idea of who is in the group precedes the link. (All excerpts can be found online. We strive to be correct and exact.)
We have just clearly demonstrated: This is false.
As we said, CBS News wasn't alone. The following links present many other inaccurate statements from major news organizations and other media.
Each group has its own characteristic, explained in each introduction. An idea of who is in the group precedes the link. (All excerpts can be found online. We strive to be correct and exact.)
Here is the long list of major media organizations - click the GROUP buttons to see the excerpts.
The Boston Globe, The New Yorker, The Atlantic ...
NBC News, USA Today, CNN ...
The New York Times, MSNBC, NPR ...
The Washington Post, Newsday
Chicago Tribune, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times ...
Summary of Part 1
Arm-around-neck and I-can't-breathe's, forever fused.
It never happened.
An unmerciful cop who just wouldn't let up.
Never happened.
Somehow millions who watched the video never objected to these descriptions. What about the millions who never watched it? What image has the media created for them?
Many in the media have asked in disbelief: "What (the heck) video did the grand jury watch?!"
It wasn't the mythical one described by you.
It never happened.
An unmerciful cop who just wouldn't let up.
Never happened.
Somehow millions who watched the video never objected to these descriptions. What about the millions who never watched it? What image has the media created for them?
Many in the media have asked in disbelief: "What (the heck) video did the grand jury watch?!"
It wasn't the mythical one described by you.
Now for Part 2...
...where an even bigger story awaits...
...where an even bigger story awaits...
May the facts prevail.
The independent journalists at Tendlightt Journalism