I must be stupid. I mean, I must simply be the most intellectually challenged literate person in America. I mean, what else can I be? After all, I cannot, for the life of me, understand how an indictment did not occur in the homicide (and, yes, that is what the Coroner ruled as the cause of death) of Eric Garner. I just dont get it. The reason that I say that I must be a blithering idiot for not getting this is that the interwebs are loaded with people saying things like just dont break the law which implies that if a person breaks the law, then law enforcement officers have the right to kill that person. But, now Im confused. Ive read about this thing called Due Process that is in this little known document that is entitled The Constitution of the United States of America that describes a process by which the legal system is supposed to work and nowhere in that document did I find the concept of summery execution by a law enforcement officer in the event of accusation of wrong doing to be included. I must be blind. I mean, I dont see very well out of one eye, and all. That must be it. In 1993, New York prohibited the use of chokes by law enforcement officers. I know that a lot people must think that thats silly since, you know, professional sport fighters use chokes all the time. Chokes must be perfectly safe, right? See, people were just being silly. Wait, chokes do at least one of two things: A) they cut off the oxygen supply to the brain or, B) they cut off the blood supply to the brain, or they can, in some cases do C) and cut off both. Now, Im not medical professional or anything, but Ive heard or read or something that the brain is the organ in the body does the thinking thing and tells the rest of the organs what to do. Now, if this bit of insanity is true, then if the thinking organ stops working, then so do the rest of the organs. Isnt that crazy if its real? I mean... madness. So, lets get back to this sport fighting thing for a second. I dont know if anyone knows this, but in a sport fight, when someone surrenders, the fight is over. If the dominant person in the fight refuses to stop, the referee will stop him or her. If the referee cant stop it, then other people will. Also, when fighters are being trained, its a general truth that the instructors will stop these kinds of homicides from happening. So, why shouldnt cops be allowed to use these techniques? Well, see, heres the thing, a sport fight, while a dynamic event, still has many static elements. The people who step into these matches are, in general, trained fighters of reasonable health. But, in a violent encounter on the street involving law enforcement (you know, like a guy saying leave me alone. Those words, apparently, have the special ability to gravely injure members of law enforcement. Who knew that there really are magic words that can physically damage or even potentially kill someone in a certain career field?) the officer involved has to be paying attention to a number of other factors in play and may not notice when the person on the receiving end of a choke actually falls unconscious. Heres the thing: after a person falls unconscious from a choke, the choke must be released immediately or the person being choked may suffer brain damage or death. If you arent aware, those things are bad for a persons health. If youve never been trained to use those techniques, or if youve never had a highly trained person apply a choke technique on you, let me give you some tips: Mastering a blood choke is actually more difficult than most people think and very few people, even within the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu community get them perfect most of the time. Most chokes that you see applied are sloppy because, as I said, a perfect choke is difficult. A sloppy choke applied by a trained person can take as much as 10-15 seconds (or even more) to put a person out. But, a perfect choke can have a person out in 1-3 seconds. Its sudden, its harsh, and its shocking. You really cant know until youve had that kind of choke applied on your very own neck. Also, unless you really, really, really know what youre doing, you wont know if you are applying a perfect choke. This makes it, oddly enough, a dangerous technique. So, now back to the points in this case that I have been able to find since coming upon this case about a day after it happened (yes, Ive been paying attention to this one). Eric Garner was out on bail for the tremendously violent crime of selling un-taxed cigarettes. A law enforcement officer thought that he was doing something wrong. Garner said that he wasnt and told the officer to leave him along. The officer proceeded to unlawfully (according to police regulations) choke him until he was mortally injured. The Coroner ruled Garners death a homicide (homicide is against the law, if you dont know). The whole damned event was caught on video. There is no indictment of the officer. There is, however, and indictment of the man who took the video (taking video of a cop on a public street, unlike homicide, is not against the law according the this little known government agency called the United States Supreme Court) has been indicted. Now, sarcasm aside, I really dont get it. When the Coroner ruled Garners death a homicide and the event was caught on video, the indictment should have been a rubber stamp kind of event. The guilt of the officer involved should have been a question for a jury trial like it would be for anyone who isnt a member of a law enforcement union. Im not going to play armchair lawyer or juror and say how the trial should have gone, but hell, its a moot point now. There will be no trial. There will be no jury. Garners homicide will remain unresolved. And this just goes to show that we, as a society, have made the decision that law enforcement isnt to be held to a higher standard as they so often claim, but rather held to a lower standard and are above the law far too often.
Posted on: Thu, 04 Dec 2014 23:40:42 +0000
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