January 4, 2014
We were again treated to the spectacle of NYPD officers turning their backs on their mayor. The press, again, fails to properly characterize Commissioner Bratton’s memo to his rank and file. Bratton didn’t plead for decorum. He left it up to his officers. His memo, as reported by the AP, read as follows: Continue reading #NYPD turn their backs, again. Why are we surprised? | #BlackLivesMatter
Using the expression “blood on the hands,” Pat Lynch, the head of the NYPD’s largest union, blamed Eric Garner protesters as well as his own mayor for the murder of two of his fellow officers. Never once did Lynch pause in his tirade to mention what, in the first place, led to the protests or his union’s part in fomenting civil unrest. Continue reading Analysis: “Blood on the hands…” | #BlackLivesMatter
| By TOM HAYS & COLLEEN LONGNEW YORK (AP) — Eric Garner was overweight and in poor health. He was a nuisance to shop owners who complained about him selling untaxed cigarettes on the street. When police came to arrest him, he resisted. And if he could repeatedly say, “I can’t breathe,” it means he could breathe.
Continue reading Police: Chokehold Victim Eric Garner Complicit In Own Death
Watching Commissioner Bratton’s Face The Nation interview was a cringe-worthy experience. The commissioner rendered very opinionated answers, most of the time, very matter-of-factly and underhandedly. When you pressed your ear close to the TV speaker, you could tell that what was said so calmly wasn’t anything that should be taken as friendly to the people.
When asked how he felt when viewing the Garner choke-hold video, Bratton replied almost glibly:
“I don’t think that anybody watching that video isn’t disturbed by what they saw, that policing using involving use of force, it always looks awful. We have an expression: “lawful but awful…”
Continue reading Perspectives on the #EricGarner case: Chief Bratton, #NYPD, Protests, Police Union
