( New York, December 3, 2014 ) - Today, less than two weeks after the announcement that Officer Darren Wilson would not be indicted for the killing of Michael Brown, a Staten Island grand jury decided that Officer Daniel Pantaleo, who was shown on tape using a chokehold to restrain Eric Garner that ultimately led to Garner's death, will not be indicted. Lambda Legal released the following joint statement from Jael Humphrey, Staff Attorney, and Beverly Tillery, Deputy Director of Education & Public Affairs for Education, Advocacy & Inclusion, its criminal justice and police misconduct strategists:
"We are saddened and dismayed that in a span of two weeks we are issuing another statement voicing our concerns about accountability for police violence in this country. While we are not privy to all of the facts that led to the grand jury decision in the death of Eric Garner, once again, an unarmed black man lost his life at the hands of a police officer and that officer has so far been cleared of any wrongdoing. Around the country, we continue to witness similar tragedies and loss of life that have resulted from the deadly combination of racism, police profiling, excessive use of lethal force and a general disregard for the lives of black and brown people. These are defining times for the City of New York and for our country.
"Some of Eric Garner's last words were, 'Every time you see me, you want to mess with me,' and our community knows this feeling all too well. LGBT communities have long suffered from discrimination, harassment, and profiling from the NYPD and other police departments. LGBT people of color, at the intersections of racism and homophobia, disproportionately face police violence and policy biases. Feeling that we cannot trust our police department serves to alienate thousands of New Yorkers and makes them less likely to report crimes. It makes this city less safe for all of us.
"We mourn Eric Garner, Michael Brown, and every victim of police violence by continuing to work for justice - for better policing and fairer laws. As an organization fighting for the rights of LGBT people and people living with HIV, we know that bias and prejudice can lead to injustice. We believe that these issues must be addressed in a systemic way and that regardless of one decision, all of us must be active participants in holding law enforcement agencies accountable for ending the unchecked assault on the lives of all of our communities that are marginalized and criminalized - whether on the basis of race, sexual orientation, gender expression or economic status.
"Lambda Legal has a long history of standing up against misconduct by police and other government officials. We will continue to work with our sister LGBT organizations and other civil rights organizations to fight to make sure that police are properly protecting and serving all the public, including LGBT people and people living with HIV."
NCLR Statement on Staten Island Grand Jury's Decision Not to Indict Eric Garner's Killer
(San Francisco, CA, December 3, 2014)—Today, a Grand Jury in Staten Island decided not to bring charges against Daniel Pantaleo, the NYPD officer that killed Eric Garner.
"We are appalled and sickened that, yet again, justice is denied to the family of an African-American man killed by a white police office," said Kate Kendell, Executive Director at the National Center for Lesbian Rights. "The systemic abuses of people of color by those sworn to protect our communities is epidemic and betrays a gross inhumanity. We fear Garner's death won't be the last. It is time to hold police officers accountable for such heinous misconduct."
The decision comes four months after New York City Police officer Daniel Pantaleo wrapped his arm around Garner's neck, put him in a chokehold, and strangled him. Garner died of a heart attack and his death was ruled a homicide by a medical examiner.
"In Ferguson, New York, and too many other places in this country, these repeated denials of justice imperil everything we stand for as a nation. We mourn Eric Garner's senseless death and demand that our elected officials, together with the Department of Justice, commit to stop the increased militarization of police departments and put an end to such repellant and violent behavior toward our communities," concluded Kendell.
LGBT communities denounce non-indictment in Eric Garner case
The New York City lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) communities join so many other New Yorkers, and people across the nation, in our outrage over the lack of indictment in the Eric Garner case. We stand in solidarity with Communities United for Police Reform, people of color, and LGBTQ people of color throughout New York City in condemning NYPD practices that disproportionately affect communities of color, and that led directly to the tragic, premature, and ultimately preventable death of Eric Garner.
As we have seen, in the homicide of Eric Garner, in Michael Brown's death in Ferguson, Missouri, and in far too many other cases throughout this country's history, law enforcement officials are not held accountable when they kill Black people in this country. Police violence is an LGBTQ issue. We know that far too many LGBTQ people, and particularly Black LGBTQ people, are regularly profiled, harassed and subject to police violence.
In 2010, directly across the river in Newark, New Jersey, a police officer shot and killed DeFarra Gaymon, an unarmed Black man, after encountering him in a known gay cruising area. The officer escaped prosecution, claiming self-defense. According to the most recent hate violence report from the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, nationally, transgender people of color were 6 times more likely to experience physical violence from police, and locally, for a second year in a row, AVP saw high rates of police misconduct being reported by our clients.
While we commend the opening of a Department of Justice investigation into the killing of Eric Garner, we demand more systemic change. We call for the end of "broken windows"/"quality of life" policing which is just another strategy, like stop and frisk is, to continue to profile and harass communities of color. We call for full accountability for all officers whose unlawful actions lead to the death or injury of our community members. We call for the New York City Council to pass The Right To Know Act, Intro 182 requiring NYPD officers to identify themselves and Intro 541 protecting New Yorkers against unlawful searches. We call for NYPD reforms that prevent the police from policing their own actions, as clearly that has not worked in Ferguson, in New York City, or countless other cities and towns throughout the country.
This is where we can start to respect and protect the lives of people of color, LGBTQ people, particularly Black LGBTQ people, in New York City. However, we must also do more. We must speak out against this violence, protest when we see it, and make clear that police violence impacts all of us — and this ends today.
Brooklyn Community Pride Center
Callen-Lorde Community Health Center
Empire State Pride Agenda
Family Equality Council
FIERCE
GMHC
GRIOT Circle: a gathering of elders
Immigration Equality
Lambda Legal
New York City Anti-Violence Project
SAGE (Services & Advocacy for GLBT Elders)
Streetwise and Safe (SAS)
The Hetrick-Martin Institute
The NYC LGBT Community Center
Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund
