Democracy, elections and voting at Democracy Chronicles

by Adrian Tawfik

The ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu is believed to have said, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step”. Today, roughly 2,600 years later and on the opposite side of the world, two American cities almost exactly a thousand miles apart, Ferguson, Missouri and New York City, are taking his wise words to heart. Protests are growing across the country following two deaths that have no physical connection other than the thousand miles of ground between them and the all too physical American system of government. The thousand miles that separates the two Grand Jury rooms that have gained our attention this month should represent what Lao Tzu was referring to: one step that is the beginning of a journey. However, the end of this journey needs to be full rights, both civil and political, for everyone under the American system.

In New York, the public defenders who knew the victim well were not surprised by the ‘lack of indictment’ in the recent death of Eric Garner. Here is a statement from the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys UAW Local 2325:

We join in the cries of outrage, grief and anger in response to the news yesterday that the Staten Island prosecutor failed to present a case the Grand Jury could indict. But we are not surprised. As the primary public defender for New Yorkers, we witness daily the outrageous deference shown to police officers by the prosecutors’ offices in cases of fabricated evidence, brutality and disregard of our clients’ constitutional rights. We assume that, like the prosecutor in Ferguson, Missouri, the Staten Island District Attorney also presented evidence, experts and defenses to the grand jury that typically only a defense attorney would introduce at trial. We see the District Attorney, again and again in police cases across the country, failing to step out of its typical daily routine of defending police officers in the court room, even when they are the ones accused of a crime.

Unlike the Grand Jury presentation in Ferguson, however, New York City will not be able to scrutinize the Staten Island District Attorney office’s presentation of evidence. Without public scrutiny of the evidence, statements, and experts presented to the Grand Jury, we will remain in the dark. We call on the District Attorney’s office to unseal its Grand Jury presentation to allow the public to have an informed discourse about why there was no indictment.

We further continue to call on the Mayor’s office, the City Council and the New York Police Department to make accountability for misconduct a priority in police reform. With the same zealous “zero tolerance” that the Mayor is approaching pedestrian deaths, we expect the same zealousness, resources, task forces and commitment on the city, state and federal level to be poured into preventing one more innocent person from being killed by a police officer.

To the extent that the government is replacing serious and swift systems of accountability with body cameras and additional training, we refuse to accept this as a sufficient response. Eric Garner’s death symbolizes nothing more clearly than the failure of both cameras and training to solve such an embedded endemic problem of police violence and brazen disregard for laws. The start-to-finish video of Mr. Garner’s murder failed to deter, prevent or properly prosecute police misconduct. A decade-old NYPD policy prohibiting chokeholds similarly failed to deter or prevent police misconduct. These reforms will only serve New Yorkers fearing police violence if accompanied by a meaningful system of internal discipline, supervision and enforcement of all laws, including constitutional laws, at every level of the police department.

Finally, police violence cannot be isolated from the abusive and invasive presence of police officers in low-income communities of color enforcing “quality of life” offenses. When “quality of life” is defined and enforced by police, rather than by the communities they vow to protect and serve, there will inevitably be tension with a constant potential for violent confrontation. Commissioner Bratton’s “quality of life” program should be evaluated in direct relation to the increased police violence and diluted community trust it has caused. In a movement that has adopted “Black Lives Matter” as a slogan, how successful can Bratton’s quality of “life” program seriously continue to be considered?

Mr. Garner was a beloved client of ours. A member of our community. A gentle giant we knew to break up kids fighting in the street. A friendly smile to greet. A strong believer in fighting for his rights in court. Tragically, Eric Garner’s name is now added to the long list of people of color, here in NY and elsewhere, who have been killed by police officers. Just as tragically, Pantaleo’s name is added to the long list of officers not indicted by a Grand Jury and held responsible for a violent crime.

Also see this posting titled, “Eric Garner’s Legal Aid Society Lawyers Speak Out“, that contains the response to the Staten Island District Attorney’s performance by Seymour W. James, Jr., the Attorney-in-Chief of the Legal Aid Society. It is equally riveting:

Yesterday NYC added another case to the shameful list of incidents that demonstrate the failure in America to provide equal justice. The Staten Island District Attorney’s office, armed with clear and uninterrupted video documentation, failed to obtain an indictment against the police officer who caused the death of Eric Garner.

Eric Garner was a son, husband, father and by all accounts, a gentle man. Certainly, we all saw his response on the video that has played in the media a million times. On July 17, 2014 Eric Garner was not resisting arrest. As far too many of our clients tell us every day, their lives are interrupted routinely by officers enforcing “quality of life” crimes. Eric Garner was one of these clients. He simply had had enough of the constant, discriminatory harassing by police officers from the 120th precinct. Despite his frustration, he had his hands up and did not resist. While surrounded by other officers he was placed in a chokehold, which was prohibited by New York Police Department regulations, and dragged to the ground by PO Pantaleo. He simply repeated “I can’t breathe” until he no longer could breathe and died.

Yet, despite what everyone saw on that video, there will be no trial of Officer Pantaleo, nor will there be a jury to weigh the evidence or render a verdict. In fact, there was never even an arrest of Officer Pantaleo. Throughout this entire process, he has been free to go about his life, live in his community, and remain with his family and friends while Eric Garner’s family has been deprived of his presence for the rest of their lives. Police Officer Pantaleo’s lawyer says the officer did not intend to harm Mr. Garner. Even if that were true, Police Officer Pantaleo engaged in reckless behavior in violation of Police Department rules by placing Mr. Garner in a chokehold that caused his death. Those actions should have resulted in an indictment for Manslaughter, or at the very least, Criminally Negligent Homicide.

As this city’s primary public defender, responsible for representing over 220,000 New Yorkers accused of crimes and over 3500 young people prosecuted in family court, we know that the process used to “investigate” Eric Garner’s death was not the same one used against our clients. Unlike Officer Pantaleo, our clients are arrested first with little to no investigation of any facts. While they are under investigation, they are not home with their families sharing holidays. They are in jail because, despite a constitutional presumption of innocence, bail is often set before a grand jury ever hears any evidence. The grand jury that hears evidence against our clients is not a special one convened months after the incident for just one case. When a District Attorney seeks an indictment against our clients, they present witnesses and ask questions with a plan as to what charges they want the grand jury to consider and they actively try to get the grand jury to vote their way. The evidence they present is often selected to strengthen their case and insure the case will go forward. Almost always, they get what they want. For our clients, it is as easy as indicting a ham sandwich.

One must ask why it is different for police officers and we are outraged that it is. Today we are filing a motion with the court requesting that the entire grand jury proceedings be unsealed to the public. We believe that an indictment in this case, given the video and the medical examiner’s report, should have occurred. In light of the fact that the grand jury chose not to indict Officer Pantaleo, the public has the right to evaluate whether or not this proceeding was handled properly and what caused the shocking result of no indictment.

Our problems don’t start and stop with the failure of the Staten Island District Attorney to secure an indictment. In communities of color across this city, police policy allows discriminatory over-policing practices under a theory that focuses on arresting people for minor offenses and “quality of life crimes.” These policies and practices, which often result in unwarranted and unlawful arrests, coupled with the lack of true accountability, training, supervision and discipline, have brought us to this place where we mourn not only Eric Garner, but countless others like Akai Gurley and Ramarley Graham. While some think that body cameras are the answer, we know it will take more than that. After all, there was video in this case.

Our thoughts are with these families as we call upon the Mayor and Police Commissioner for real change to prevent these tragedies from ever happening again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrI3aLBMsdE