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He spoke just a little while ago about the grand jury decision. this is an issue that we ve been dealing with for too long and it s time to make more progress than we ve made. i m not interesting in talk, i m interested in action, and i am absolutely committed as president of the united states to making sure that we have a country in which everybody believes in the core principle that we are equal under the law. [ applause ] let s bring in the president and ceo of the national urban league. and also joining us congressman lacey clay. thank you very much for joining us. mark, first to you. what is your reaction to the decision by the grand jury not to indictment the police officer? well, wolf, i had a chance to speak to eric garner s mother about two hours ago. they are outraged and crushed by the decision of the grand jury. i would say, wolf, the decision ....
Hours. so i would think that before the grand jury should have been the fact that twice he was sued twice for civil rights infractions, one case filed in 2012 was settled and the city paid out $30,000. that s still another case open. so if you have that kind of witness testifying in front of the grand jury, the person that is the target of the grand jury investigation, i would think that that information in and of itself is very relevant and should have been presented to the grand jury. don, led me read to you the statement that the police officer daniel pantaleo put out after the grand jury decision today not to indict him. i became a police officer to help people and to protect those who can t protect themselves. it s never my intention to harm anyone and i feel very bad about the death of mr. garner. when you hear about all this, what goes through your mind, don? you re there in new york city. uh-huh. it s sad. again, as i said, this is racial, but even if you take ....
Release a statement earlier today, expressing his condolences to the family. the attorney for eric garner also has said that, in his view, it is astonishing that the grand jury did not indict the officer on the facts as they staid. also, given the fact that there was video of the entire incident. as i said, it s been peaceful. however, the new york police department is on alert. they do have a number of officers available to catch up with any demonstrations should they occur on the streets. there s also a bit of concern about the christmas tree lighting at rockefeller center, which is scheduled to occur this evening. more police officers on stand by for that. wolf? joe johns monitoring the situation over there. stand by to you. protesters are also gathering in times square right now. what is it like? ....
These practices. the governor sending out a statement ending by saying my thoughts and prayers are with mr. garner and his friends and i stand with the garner family and urge those wishing to voice their opposition to today s ruling to do so peacefully. these how you do it. he s say even if you don t agree with the ruling, however you feel about it, the best way to protest it is to do it peacefully. and the mayor saying the same thing. we ve been talking about the mayor. he said the mayor has a black son. he s got a black wife and a black daughter. so he feels this situation, because he has children and he understands the pressures that those children are under and his wife as a matter of fact when they go out into the streets of new york city. this will be handled much differently than in ferguson. people around the country, cities and municipalities around the country, should take a lesson how new york has handled this. if you don t agree with it, i m sure this will be dealt with. ....
He was in serious condition. people were saying that he said seven times, i can t breathe. but if you can t breathe, you can t talk. so police hear that all the time. they, in this case, a choke hold was not illegal. it is against department regulations, but as you look carefully, i don t think it was an intent to put him in a choke hold, because he does move the baton as he brings him down. people are saying very casually this was done through racial motives. there s not a hint anyone used a racial epithat. and the senior officer was an african-american female. the reason the police were there, the local business people were complaining about garner was constantly selling ....