The Second Eric Garner Video Some Say Is More Disturbing Than The First; 'He Was Treated Like a Piece of Meat'
A second video showing the immediate aftermath of the choking of Staten Island, New York father of six, Eric Garner, by NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo, shortly before he was pronounced dead over the summer, has been drawing renewed interest in the wake of last week's grand jury decision to not criminally indict the officer for Garner's death.
The video, first posted to Facebook on July 18 by Taisha Allen and later added to YouTube, has been viewed more than 2 million times and shared nearly 57,000 times on Facebook.
In hindsight, some critics, like New York Daily News writer Harry Siegel, believe this second video is more disturbing than the first in which Garner is heard begging for his life saying repeatedly, "I can't breathe. I can't breathe."
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"It's the second Eric Garner video that made me cry. Not the one where Officer Daniel Pantaleo chokes Garner for 15 seconds before smashing his head into the sidewalk for 10 seconds as other cops hold down and cuff Garner, ignoring the pleas he issued with the last air in his lungs," wrote Siegel in an op-ed last Wednesday.
For more than seven minutes in the video, several police officers are shown in the video acting with very little urgency to save Garner's life.
"As he lay dying, he was treated like a piece of meat. By Pantaleo. By the other cops on the scene. Even by the medical technicians. Had Garner been treated with basic human dignity after he was violently, and needlessly, taken down, he might not be dead," said Siegel.
"I'm no lawyer, but this is section 125.15 of New York's penal code: 'A person is guilty of manslaughter in the second degree when: 1. He recklessly causes the death of another person.' So I'm stunned, and saddened, by a Staten Island grand jury's decision to level no charges against Pantaleo," he continued.
"Anyone unsure why so many people of color are upset with the police, and suspicious of the American justice system, put your politics down, open your eyes and watch the videos," he added.
