New York City officials say that the family of Eric Garner just rejected their cash settlement offer of $5,000,000. The money was offered in order to settle a suit filed in the wrongful death of Garner, 43, after an NYPD police officer choked him to death for selling lose cigarettes in New York City.
The Garner family is said to have refused the NYPD offer, saying that they will ask instead for a more punishing suit of $75 million within the week.
That suit has to be filed by the 17th of this month, which is the anniversary of Garner’s death.
Family required to file a suit by Friday – the anniversary of Garner’s death
New York’s top finance official, Scott Stringer, offered the family the $5 million payout, if they promise not to sue the police or the city, according to the New York Daily News.
Garner’s widow Esaw Garner, said there is no way they would let the NYPD get away with killing Garner and paying such a relatively small amount.
Garner’s death made international headlines, after the NYPD put him in a chokehold over nothing other than selling untaxed cigarettes. Garner went into cardiac arrest and died in custody.
As in many cases of police killings, there is a federal probe into Garner’s death, being carried out by the Justice Department, but few expect any meaningful findings to arise from this investigation.
Garner’s last words of “I can’t breathe” were yelled, gasped and choked out 11 times before he passed out. Those words have now become rallying cries in protests across the nation, standing up against police brutality and murder.
Source: Eric Garner’s Family REJECTS $5,000,000 Settlement From The NYPD
(Article by Reagan Ali)
Kudos to the family for standing strong. I don’t know if I could be so willful and defiant in my grief and, lets be honest, fear–every police they see must make them shiver. I hope they hold out for a sentence that requires the city and all individuals involved to acknowledge their roles and responsibility, from the officers and cold-hearted paramedics to the commissioner, mayor, and council persons.
Garner’s widow Esaw Garner, said there is no way they would let the NYPD get away with killing Garner and paying such a relatively small amount.
But the NYPD did not kill the man the cop did. Does bankrupting NYC and police dept bring justice? Does harming all the citizens of NYC by getting reduced service mean punishment? If they win something from the tragedy and send a message to law enforcement does that stop the next whack job cop from doing the same thing? I do not mean to suggest that I do not grieve with the family in the sense that I would also be heartbroken it it happened to a loved one of mine.
All I’m hearing is, lets punish this “one” guy (even though this is not by any means an isolated incident) and not the institutions that continuously hand pick these type of people to process drug screens, background checks, civil training, legal training and arms training all under an oath to protect and serve in exchange for annual salaries based on the tax paying dollars of the very citizens they continue to murder in the streets?
Did I get that right or wrong?
Don’t you think financial harming the institutions that refuses to take accountability for its employing and paying murders might be a more effective method in persuading the hiring of such people as opposed to continuously picking them out one by one AFTER the fact that they’ve taken a life?
A man whose arrogance and impunity were assured by a system which, while not outwardly condoning such acts, tacitly did just that thing by repeatedly shielding its officers from repercussions until a culture of violence more appropriate to vigilantes–or, dare I say it, lynch mobs–than sanctioned “officers of the law” was established. If this was just this one cop, just this one time, your argument might hold water–but the perpetrators are legion, the heinous actions virtually uncountable and ongoing.
Reblogged this on It Is What It Is and commented:
I would have done the same thing! Stand strong! #ICantBreathe …
Reblogged this on The Militant Negro™.