Police With Suspects: Mass Killer vs. Man Selling Cigarettes

(L) Dylann Roof, age 21, single, premeditated shooter of nine innocents in church.

(R) Eric Garmer, age 43, married, father of 6 children - choked to death or selling "loosies."

Link to Eric Garner story: He died on Staten Island after a police officer put him in a choke hold 

for 15 seconds. The NYC ME concluded that Garner died partly as a result of the choke hold. 

NYPD policy prohibits the use of choke holds, The Patrolmen's Benevolent Association  (PBA), a NYPD police union, said that the officer did not use a choke hold. NYPD officers approached Garner on suspicion of selling "loosies" (single cigarettes) from packs without a tax stamp.

After Garner told the police that he was tired of being harassed and that he was not selling cigarettes, the officers went to arrest Garner. When officer Daniel Pantaleo took Garner's wrist behind his back, Garner swatted his arms away saying he hadn't done anything wrong. Pantaleo then put his arm around Garner's neck and pulled him backwards and down onto the ground.

After Pantaleo removed his arm from Garner's neck, he pushed Garner's face into the ground while four officers moved to restrain Garner, who repeated "I can't breathe" eleven times while lying face down on the sidewalk. After Garner lost consciousness, officers turned him onto his side to ease his breathing.

Garner remained lying on the sidewalk for seven minutes while the officers waited for an ambulance to arrive. The officers and EMTs did not perform CPR on Garner at the scene; according to a spokesman for the PBA, this was because they believed that Garner was breathing and that it would be improper to perform CPR on someone who was still breathing. He was pronounced dead on arrival (DOA) at the hospital approximately one hour later.

Dylann Roof story: He admitted he killed the nine people in the church in order "to start a race war." His legal process starts in October and will go on for years and even if he gets the death penalty, which SC has, it is unlikely it will carried out.  

Justice in America. Pictures worth a 1,000 words.