jim, 11 times eric garner said he couldn t breathe. was this proper police work or was it a crime? it s excessive force because you can only use the force necessary to make the arrest. the officer clearly has his arm sunk deep in mr. garner s throat. he is choking him. mr. garn he says he can t breathe. the medical examiner says the chokehold in the chest compressions resulted in his death. if that s not a chokehold, i m the queen of england. that s a chokehold. you can say it was perfectly said or wasn t mixed martial arts hand positioning or something. but it gets to be ridiculous. it is like someone showing you a picture of a camel and telling you it s a horse. that s a chokehold. the question is, is it excessive force? we know it is against the nypd policy because it results in death. so it clearly is excessive force. and the civil rights division at
charges. on september 19th, a forensics expert hired by the garner family agreed with the autopsy. on october 7, the garn he family filed a $75 million civil lawsuit against new york city and the nypd. the entire incident was caught on cell phone video. it is clear officer pantaleo used a chokehold to bring eric garner down and the nypd has banned the use of chokeholds. why did the grand jury decide not to bring charges? what evidence did they look at and why didn t they think this was a crime? joining me now, the former prosecutor and msnbc contributor, faith jenkins, and former u.s. attorney kendall coffey. the grand jury in this case had to determine there was probable cause to believe that a
and tonight, nbc news reports the justice department led by attorney general eric holder will conduct an independent civil rights investigation into garner s death. obviously, there are many potential conflicts of interest when you have local prosecutors overseeing homicide investigations. were local police involved to make sure everyone has confidence in the process, it is time we rethink the role of the federal government in these cases. joining me now, new york congressman hakeem jeffreys and jonlth capehart of the washington post. thanks for being here. thanks, rev. is it appropriate for the justice department to investigate eric garner s death? absolutely appropriate. the decision by the grand jury not to indict the officer responsible for the homicide of eric garner is a gross this
you know, thinking about what s going on and what had happened and everything. but every time i turn the tv on i see that video. for them to come out with this verdict. like they not even seeing what i saw. what kind of guy was eric? eric that s funny you ask me that. eric was the sweetest, for him to be so big and stuff. he was only angry if he drank something. so i used to have a joke that he couldn t drink because he was an angry drunk. that was the only time he would ever tell me no. so he had faults. of course he. did he wasn t perfect. but they re saying your son was there because he is selling lucies. that s an reason to kill him. lucies. not even marijuana. it s cigarettes. he wouldn t have been selling if it wasn t in demand. eric garner should be honored
the wake of this video put new scrutiny on police tactics. police commissioner bill bratton called for a new training aimed at changing the culture of the department. the department s yearly training and the use of force over the 35,000 officers in new york. and today, mayor bill de blasio said the police department is speeding up efforts to outfit police with body cameras. i can t breathe, the final words of eric garner, is still ringing in our ears. i can t breathe! i can t breathe. i can t breathe. i can t breathe. i can t breathe. i can t breathe. i can t breathe. once again, police beating up on people. joining me now, retired atf agent jim cavanagh and prosecutor paul henderson. thank you both for being here. thank you.