Spike Lee: 'Do the Right Thing' for chokehold victim Eric Garner

[MASTERBAKER]

Middleagedwhiteguy
17 hours ago
I am usually a defender of the police. In most cases their action is warranted and necessary but I have to say this is guy dying was downright criminal. I am sick when I see this video and read the back story to what was going on. The cops over reacted and mishandled this to the point that the matter is criminal in my opinion and I sincerely pray in the opinion of the district attorney as well. I am no Spike Lee fan or wide eyed liberal by any stretch of the imagination but for God's sake this was so wrong that this man died I can't see how anyone can think any other way.

Spike Lee: 'Do the Right Thing' for chokehold victim Eric Garner

Brooklyn-raised director posts cell footage of Staten Island's dad's fatal confrontation with police mixed with explosive riot scene from his iconic movie.

Spike Lee shared this picture on Instagram with the caption, "Doing the Right Thing for the deceased Eric Garner"

Spike Lee says it’s time to “Do the Right Thing” for Eric Garner.

The outspoken director posted a video mashup of the Staten Island man’s fatal confrontation with cops, remixed with clips of cops choking character Radio Raheem to death in an explosive scene from his iconic movie.

The Brooklyn-raised provocateur uploaded the video, titled “Radio Raheem And The Gentle Giant,” Monday on his Youtube channel, and he promoted it through his Instagram and Twitter accounts.

“Brother Eric Garner No Longer Breathes Courtesy of Banned NYPD Chokehold,” Lee tweeted. “Rest In Power.”
Screengrabs from Spike Lee's 'Do the Right Thing' during the scene showing Radio Raheem's death at the hands of NYPD. Screengrabs from Spike Lee's 'Do the Right Thing' during the scene showing Radio Raheem's death at the hands of NYPD.
Previous Next

<iframe width="853" height="480" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/OsS4zY_y7tg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Screengrabs from Spike Lee's 'Do the Right Thing' during the scene showing Radio Raheem's death at the hands of NYPD.
Screengrabs from Spike Lee's 'Do the Right Thing' during the scene showing Radio Raheem's death at the hands of NYPD.

Enlarge
YouTube

Eric Garner, 43, died Thursday as cops tried to cuff him for allegedly selling bootleg cigarettes on a Staten Island sidewalk. A cell phone recording exclusively obtained by the Daily News captured the asthmatic father of six repeating the words: “I can’t breathe!”

One cop can be seen putting Garner in an apparent chokehold, a move prohibited by the NYPD.

Similarly, the fictional Radio Raheem clashed with cops during a Bedford-Stuyvesant riot at the end of “Do the Right Thing,” the iconic film that is celebrating its 25th anniversary this summer. An officer uses his nightstick to restrain Raheem during the fighting, choking him until he goes limp and dies.
07221418339, 21334631, Richard Shotwell/AP Enlarge
Framegrabs showing arrest and baton beating of suspect in Staten Island Eric Garner died while being arrested by police in Staten Island on Thursday, July 17, 2014. New York Daily News Enlarge

Spike Lee, shown in 2014, is speaking out on social media about the death of Staten Island dad Eric Garner, who died after police put him in chokehold.

Garner was to be buried on Wednesday in Brooklyn as NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton ordered that the department’s 35,000 officers be re-trained in the use of force.



dmmurpy@nydailynews.com

Middleagedwhiteguy
17 hours ago
I am usually a defender of the police. In most cases their action is warranted and necessary but I have to say this is guy dying was downright criminal. I am sick when I see this video and read the back story to what was going on. The cops over reacted and mishandled this to the point that the matter is criminal in my opinion and I sincerely pray in the opinion of the district attorney as well. I am no Spike Lee fan or wide eyed liberal by any stretch of the imagination but for God's sake this was so wrong that this man died I can't see how anyone can think any other way.

Like
Reply
Share
1 reply

10
Pure Darkness
15 hours ago
Well said Middle Age White guy, Jerry Duer only believes what he reads in the paper. Some people have too much space in their brain, and not enough knowledge to think the police force can cover this up. SMH

Like
Reply
Share

3
bensonhurst07741
15 hours ago
Spike Lee is a racist Doooshbag

Like
Reply
Share
4 replies

7
Poetic Justice
14 hours ago
Yeah I'm sure if a boat load of black people were moving into Bensonhurst you would put out the welcome mat for them and not complain.

Like
Reply
Share
3 replies

5
jorge maldonado
13 hours ago
Poetic Justice-You beat me to that fact! LMAO!

Like
Reply
Share

0
bensonhurst07741
2 hours ago
Poet….I don't live in Bensonhurst anymore. I live in racially diverse Carroll Gardens where I rent my apartments to Yuppies of all races and sexual preferences. See right there is the definition of prejudice. Your assumption of something based on such little evidence. Now go back to watching Family guy you dope

Like
Reply
Share

1
Katie Anne Romano
2 hours ago
Guess what? They are already there, and things are fine.

Like
Reply
Share

0
Le Roy Waring
14 hours ago
Before you call Spike Lee a hate race baiting monger....Expose yourselves first. I remember watching this movie as a child and it seems to be more apparent through history that WE ALL keep repeating ourselves....Our own violated entitlements over what's right and wrong, our own personal views and personal experience clouding the fact that this is a systematic genocide of racism,sexism, economic placism, racial seperation, fear and conformity over our god given civil liberties for profit or control.....When they've finished killing us all who's left to be the 99% to steal from?

Like
Reply
Share
2 replies

3
bensonhurst07741
53 minutes ago
LeRoy : I always respect your opinion brother. I am making a specific point about Spike Lee and his race baiting movies and reinforced negative stereotyping. Let's be real here; the NY of 25 yrs ago and the NY of now are in 2 different stratospheres. Yes progress still needs to be made and YES, the man on SI was most def killed needlessly in a choke hold. That's where the similarities end. I always loved the ridiculous ending of that movie based on the injustice of "no pictures of black people on the wall". yeah right….let me go into my local book store owned by a black man and start demanding pictures of Frank Sinatra replace the Malcolm X pictures. I'd get real far with that one. Spike Le''movies all suck.

Like
Reply
Share

0
bensonhurst07741
52 minutes ago
LeRoy : I always respect your opinion brother. I am making a specific point about Spike Lee and his race baiting movies and reinforced negative stereotyping. Let's be real here; the NY of 25 yrs ago and the NY of now are in 2 different stratospheres. Yes progress still needs to be made and YES, the man on SI was most def killed needlessly in a choke hold. That's where the similarities end. I always loved the ridiculous ending of that movie based on the injustice of "no pictures of black people on the wall". yeah right….let me go into my local book store owned by a black man and start demanding pictures of Frank Sinatra replace the Malcolm X pictures. I'd get real far with that one. Spike Le''movies are all overrated to say the least.

Like
Reply
Share

0
Joey Yokaibelf
15 hours ago
Hey spike, did you ever apologize to those elderly people whose address you posted online accusing of being George Zimmerman's parents, forcing them to flee their home in the middle of the night when they were getting death threats from a crazy mobs of strangers? No, you asked the judge to dismiss the suit. Hypocrite pig.

Like
Reply
Share
4 replies

3
Poetic Justice
14 hours ago
“I Deeply Apologize To The McClain Family For Retweeting Their Address,” he wrote on Twitter late Wednesday. “It Was A Mistake. Please Leave The McClains In Peace. Justice In Court.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...-were-correct/2012/03/29/gIQAkywDjS_blog.html

You guys love to make up your own stuff in the age of the internet where it's easy to retrieve information to refute.

Like
Reply
Share
3 replies

3
Rod
12 hours ago
Right wingers would cease to exist if they were forced to acknowledge reality. These same kooks STILL believe in a Virgin Birth and that GOP Bloomturd lowered their taxes!

Like
Reply
Share

1
Joey Yokaibelf
11 hours ago
By "apologize" I mean PAY them for terrorizing them.

Like
Reply
Share
1 reply

2
Robin Rock
59 minutes ago
Really Joey? And where is the apology and payment for ages of overt and subtle oppression, terrorism, racism from people towards the black race?

 

[MASTERBAKER]

Cop who put dad of six in chokehold also accused of strip-searching 2 men and slapping their genitals in broad daylight

EXCLUSIVE: NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo had a complaint filed against him by Daren Collins and Tommy Rice in April 2012. The men alleged Pantaleo pulled their pants down and 'slapped' their testicles. The Civilian Complaint Review Board could not substantiate the claims.

The NYPD cop who put Eric Garner in a chokehold allegedly strip-searched two men in public following a traffic stop, according to official documents obtained by the Daily News.

Darren Collins and Tommy Rice filed a complaint against Officer Daniel Pantaleo with the Civilian Complaint Review Board, one month after the March 22, 2012 incident.

In their filing, Collins, 46, and Rice, 43, said Pantaleo also “slapped” and “tapped” their testicles in broad daylight.

Pantaleo and three other plainclothes cops had pulled over their Nissan Maxima around 10:50 a.m.

The cops claimed to have witnessed a hand-to-hand drug transaction involving the men in the car, but that story later fell apart, according to the documents.

After they exited their vehicle, the CCRB documents say, “PO Pantaleo then removed Mr. Rice’s belt, causing Mr. Rice’s pants to sag down to the middle of his thigh. Mr. Rice was wearing boxer shorts under his pants and they became visible when his pants started to sag. PO Pantaleo pulled Mr. Rice’s pants down to his knees and then pulled his boxer shorts down.”

Pantaleo then slapped Rice’s private parts, the documents allege.
Staten Island man dies after NYPD cop puts him in chokehold

A 400-pound asthmatic Staten Island dad died Thursday after a cop put him in a chokehold and other officers appeared to slam his head against the sidewalk,...

“Pantaleo stated that he was attempting to shake out any contraband Mr. Rice might be hiding,” the documents say.

Collins provided CCRB investigators with a similar account of the strip-search. First, Pantaleo and Sgt. Ignaczio Conca removed his belt, shoelaces, shoes and socks, then pulled his pants and underwear down to his knees.

No drugs were found on either Collins or Rice, but a third person in the car was in possession of heroin.

Pantaleo was interviewed by investigators and denied that he pulled down anyone's pants or underwear or touched their testicles, according to the document. The other cops, including the sergeant, insisted there was no strip search at the scene of the car stop.

In the end, the allegation was deemed unsubstantiated — it could not be proven or disproven — because it was the word of Collins and Rice against the cops.

But the cops gave conflicting stories as to why they stopped the Maxima in the first place. Pantaleo had claimed another cop radioed him that he had witnessed a drug transaction, but that cop told the CCRB he had witnessed no such thing.
Officer Daniel Pantaleo is shown in green No. 99 shirt pushing the head of Eric Garner into the concrete. Officer Daniel Pantaleo is shown in green No. 99 shirt pushing the head of Eric Garner into the concrete.
Previous Next

Framegrabs showing arrest of suspect in Staten Island where police officers used a choke hold that resulted in the suspects death.
frame grabs from a cell phone video posted by a witness to the fatal encounter between Police Officers and Eric Garner in Staten Island, Garner lay on the ground after officers, including Police Officer Daniel Pantaleo (rear, green t and beige shorts) applied a chokehold.
NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo waves to the camera after Eric Garner's body is taken away from the scene at Victory Blvd and Bay St in Staten Island on Thursday, July 17, 2014. -- YouTube

This undated family photo provided by the National Action Network, Saturday, July 19, 2014, shows Eric Garner. Garner was confronted by police trying to arrest him on suspicion of selling untaxed, loose cigarettes on a Staten Island sidewalk, authorities said. The 6-foot-3, 350-pound Garner became irate, denying the charges and refusing to be handcuffed before one of the officers placed him in what Police Commissioner William Bratton said appeared to be a chokehold, according to partial video of the encounter obtained by the New York Daily News. (AP Photo/Family photo via National Action Network)

Enlarge
New York Daily News

Criminal charges against Rice and Collins were later dismissed. They settled the lawsuit for $15,000 apiece earlier this year.

Their lawyer, Jason Rosenthal, said their allegations show Pantaleo has a propensity for exceeding his authority even in the presence of a sergeant.

“I think Pantaleo has no respect for the law and his superiors approve of his conduct.”

The CCRB substantiated 23 complaints against cops in Pantaleo’s 120th Precinct between 2009 and 2013 — the second-highest number citywide.

With Thomas Tracy and Ginger Adams Otis

 

[MASTERBAKER]

Hundreds attend funeral for Eric Garner in Brooklyn

<iframe width="476" height="270" src="http://7online.com/video/embed/?pid=211310" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

wednesday, July 23, 2014
BOERUM HILL (WABC) --
It was a day many never imagined would come so soon. The day friends and family gathered at Bethel Baptist Church to their final goodbyes to Eric Garner.

Wednesday night into the rainy streets of Boerum Hill emerged the casket of 43-year-old Eric Garner.

The casket was followed by his mother and father and countless mourners.

They were overcome with emotion after his jam packed memorial.

The church was filled to the rafters and so hot inside, one woman needed to be carried out.

Hundreds remembered the 43-year-old father of six they say was the victim of excessive force, at the hands of police.

"I love all the support. I just wanted to say that and we're not going to stop fighting, no matter what they say, no matter what they try to do. We just going to keep on," a speaker said in his eulogy.

Garner's last moments alive, chronicled by a cell phone camera, have reverberated around the world.

NOTE: We are unable to post cell phone video showing the incident between the NYPD and Eric Garner due to copyright restrictions.

Over the weekend, Police on Staten Island tried to arrest the 350 pound man for the 32nd time on suspicion of selling cigarettes illegally.

As Garner resisted, one officer appeared to place him in a choke hold.

A few minutes later, he was dead. The mayor and police commissioner have been quick to apologize to his family and the officer, Daniel Pantaleo, has been suspended.

That's not enough for the Reverend Al Sharpton, who spoke at Wednesday night's funeral.

On Friday he plans to take Garner's family to the U.S. Attorney's office to demand a federal civil right investigation.

"At what point do the cries of 'I can't breathe' turn into intent? When he said it 11 times on tape? Is it the second time? Is it the third time? At some point you had to know what you were doing and you had to know that you were violating him," Sharpton said.

Two paramedics and two EMT's have been suspended without pay by Richmond University Medical Center as the hospital conducts its own internal investigation.

"The one who did this to him should ask The Lord for forgiveness for taking someone's life. He didn't deserve this. This was not his time," Estelle Smith said.

There have been several vigils and protests demanding justice at or near the spot where Garner died.

Many are still shaken up by the video and the way police responded to what they say was a man selling illegal cigarettes on the street.

"I thought it was unnecessary. Senseless, reckless and unnecessary," Ivory White said.

At a news conference Tuesday, NYPD Commissioner WIlliam Bratton said the NYPD will conduct a "top to bottom review of all of the training this department provides to its personnel, specifically focusing on force, how do we train our officers for a takedown, how do we train them to use the various levels of force that they're authorized to use."

Bratton also met Tuesday with the FBI, which is now monitoring the investigation into the case.