NEW YORK (Sputnik) — One year after the passing of Eric Garner, whose death at the hands of the New York City Police Department (NYPD) spurred protests across the United States, the call for justice continues, activist Elsa Waithe said at a rally in New York City commemorating Garner’s death.
“They kill people with no consequences and they don’t even have to pay for it,” White said on Friday. “We have a law enforcement agency that is breaking the law itself.”
On July 17, 2014, Eric Garner was killed after police officer Dan Panteleo applied a chokehold on him. Panteleo was never charged with a crime, despite medical examiners ruling that Garner’s death was a homicide caused by compression of the neck and chest, and prone positioning during physical restraint by police.
“If there’s a victim, there has to be a perpetrator. There’s a killer roaming our streets,” she said.
Harlem Church of Christ Associate Minister Richard Price, one of the several rally organizers, reiterated that Garner’s death was murder.
“Here today, we stand wondering what to do next,” Price said.
The NYPD arrested one rally demonstrator in the early evening, but did not respond to Sputnik’s request for comment regarding the details of the arrest.
Civil rights leader Al Sharpton announced that another rally is scheduled for July 18 in New York City.
Local media reported that Panteleo, who remains an officer with the NYPD, has an around-the-clock security detail funded by taxpayers.
The United States has seen waves of mass protests over the past year against police brutality as well as racial profiling, prompted by numerous killings of unarmed individuals, many of which are African American.
