This week I’m joined by Bobby C of No Religion Required. I’m very grateful to Bobby for coming on to give us some insight on what it means to be a police officer. We talk about the NYC case a little as the news broke the day we recorded, but we focus more on Ferguson and police brutality as well as possible solutions to the problem.
Find Bobby’s podcast at http://www.noreligionrequired.com or @noreligionreq on Twitter.
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Here is an image of a what is called a lateral vascular neck restraint which is authorized, and police are trained in it’s use across the country. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d7/Maldives25a-rear_choke.jpg/220px-Maldives25a-rear_choke.jpg to most people it’s indistinguishable from a choke-hold, the difference being about 3 inches in the positioning of his arm. I would suggest the grand jury believed that this was what the officer was trying to apply, because he was significantly shorter than Garner, and Garner was fighting him, he was unable to get his arm in the correct position.
In order for the grand jury to have indicted on the minimum involuntary manslaughter 3 elements are required.
1. Someone was killed as a result of act by the defendant.
2. The act either was inherently dangerous to others or done with reckless disregard for human life.
3.The defendant knew or should have known his or her conduct was a threat to the lives of others.
2, and 3 are rather problematic. If he was trying to use a lateral vascular neck restraint then it wouldn’t meet the requirements of either.
I wanted to clarify that I wasn’t suggesting the lateral vascular neck restraint is an allowed procedure by the NYPD, but that it is used, and authorized across the country. That fact would make it difficult to argue that it’s use is “dangerous” or “reckless disregard for human life”. While it’s use by an NYPD officer might be a procedural infraction, it doesn’t make it a criminal act. Additionally as you mentioned there were other factors, asthma, and heart problems, that the officer could not have known, that contributed to Garners death.
I also wanted to add a comment regarding your opinion that “most people” have a negative opinion of police. I suspect if that’s the impression you get, you’re getting it because most of the news, and opinion sources you frequent are liberally biased, and/or because that’s the narrative that is being played up as part of the Brown, and Garner cases. I mean the protesters who are being interviewed incessantly certainly aren’t going to be pro police.