223 Overnight Arrests In NYC Protests Over Eric Garner Death
Protests in New York City over the death of unarmed man Eric Garner gained momentum Thursday night as people took to the streets to protest the man's July chokehold death.
New York City Police report that 223 arrests were made Thursday night, mostly on charges of disorderly conduct or a refusal to clear public streets. Hundreds of protesters marched in several well-known New York City areas to protest a grand jury's decision not to indict the police officer who put Garner in a chokehold back in July on Staten Island, effectively killing him.
Protesters gathered on the Brooklyn Bridge, as well as in Penn Station, the Holland Tunnel and the Manhattan Bridge to conduct marches where they chanted "I can't breathe," the last words uttered by Garner as he's in a chokehold in a cell phone video taken at the time of the incident.
Various activists spoke out on Garner's death during Thursday night protests. Harlem resident Judy Edwards told the Associated Press that she believes "We're under siege and it has to stop."
Politicians have also spoken out regarding the recent controversy. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said on NBC's "Today" that if people feel they cannot trust the judicial system to deliver justice, then "you have a fundamental problem."
President Barack Obama also spoke on the recent events surrounding Garner and Michael Brown, an unarmed teenager killed in Ferguson back in August. The president said while in Washington that too many Americans feel unfairness in the judicial system.
"When it comes, unfortunately, as we've seen in recent days, to our criminal justice system," Obama said, "too many Americans feel deep unfairness when it comes to the gap between our professed ideals and how laws are applied on a day-to-day basis."
