Do Black Lives Matter More in Post-Garner America?
The death of Eric Garner at the hands of a New York police officer raised a slew of legal issues that were resolved and others that continue to unfold.
A grand jury opted not to indict Daniel Pantaleo, the officer who put Garner in chokehold that took his life. But it was a different story in the death of unarmed 25-year-old Freddie Gray and 28-year-old Akai Gurley in Brooklyn public housing.
The New York City Council has proposed a variety of measures, ranging from making the use of a chokehold by an NYPD officer a misdemeanor, to requiring cops to get written or verbal consent before making some searches.
And in spite of the lack of an indictment, the Garner family reached a $5.9 million dollar settlement with the city earlier this week. It's the largest settlement ever in the history of New York City for a wrongful death at the hand of the NYPD.
WNYC legal analyst Jami Floyd says the significance of the settlement should not go unnoticed.
"It's an important statement, even though there is no admission of liability, that something really wrong happened on that day one year ago on Staten Island," Floyd told WNYC's Richard Hake. "Justice is imperfect, but the ideal is a system that balances the scales of justice and I have to believe that's what we're all working toward, though we may not agree on how to get there."
