'Outrage': Second Day of Protests Continues Over Eric Garner Decision
BY TRACY JARRETT
Protesters Gather in NYC for Second Day After Garner Decision
NBC NEWS
Thousands of protesters marched across the Brooklyn Bridge Thursday in a second day of demonstrations following a grand jury's decision not to indict a white police officer in the chokehold death of an unarmed black man.
Police on the scene told NBC News that the Brooklyn-bound lanes were shut down in advance of the protest, in which some carried mock coffins representing victims of alleged police brutality. Elsewhere, other protesters walked onto the West Side Highway for a second night in a row, shutting down traffic in both directions. The huge crowd was seen walking in front of and around cars stuck on the highway.
Large crowds gathered in Foley Square — near NYPD headquarters and City Hall — some chanting, "Hands up, don't shoot," and "black lives matter."
A grand jury declined to indict white NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo in the July 17 death of Eric Garner, who died after being wrested to the ground with Pantaleo's arm around his neck, while telling officers, "I can't breathe." A bystander captured the incident on video.
"I'm college educated and I still have to be seen like I'm a threat due to my skin color," said protester Isaiah Jones, 22, who joined others demonstrating on Brooklyn's Fulton Mall. "We have to slow down everything in Brooklyn and Manhattan. if they keep killing us, the system doesn't deserve to keep going. It's the best we can do right now."
The protests occurred in several spots in New York City, with crowds at times blocking traffic on the West Side Highway, lying down in an intersection outside the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, and converging outside the terminal to the Staten Island Ferry in southern Manhattan.
"Anger is not even a word, outrage is my word. Those words don't begin to define the decomposition of your soul when you hear something like this," said one protester, who identified himself as Graham D., 33, during a demonstration at Foley Square. "Before, no one believed this was happening, but now we have clear distinct evidence that police abuse is happening and still nothing happens."
Protesters also marched in Washington, D.C., for a second straight day. A group of about 100 people staged a "die-in" near the White House as a Christmas Tree lighting ceremony went off about a block away, NBC Washington reported. Several hundred protesters marched in Boston ahead of a tree lighting ceremony on the Boston Common and police were prepared for larger demonstrations, NBC station WHDH reported.
In Chicago, hundreds marched during rush hour Thursday. Crowds later walked onto the Dan Ryan Expressway, briefly closing it, until police escorted them off the road. Protesters staged a "die-in" on Roosevelt and shut down traffic for 10 minutes.
Wednesday night, hundreds of protesters in New York shut down a section of the West Side Highway and another group staged a "die-in" at the main concourse of Grand Central Terminal and rallied in Times Square. Police said they made 83 arrests at various protest sites around the city.
The grand jury in the Garner case made its decision a week and a half after a Missouri grand jury declined to indict a white Ferguson police officer, Darren Wilson, for fatally shooting unarmed black 18-year-old Michael Brown on Aug. 9.
"Ferguson, I wasn't surprised at all, I think we saw that coming, but with this one I was horrified," said another protester in Foley Square, Margaret Rodgers, 72. "It's unbelievable and a total miscarriage of justice."
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced Wednesday that the Justice Department will launch a civil rights investigation into Garner's death.
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| New Yorkers take to the streets for the second night in a row. |
Protesters Gather in NYC for Second Day After Garner Decision
NBC NEWS
Thousands of protesters marched across the Brooklyn Bridge Thursday in a second day of demonstrations following a grand jury's decision not to indict a white police officer in the chokehold death of an unarmed black man.
Police on the scene told NBC News that the Brooklyn-bound lanes were shut down in advance of the protest, in which some carried mock coffins representing victims of alleged police brutality. Elsewhere, other protesters walked onto the West Side Highway for a second night in a row, shutting down traffic in both directions. The huge crowd was seen walking in front of and around cars stuck on the highway.
Large crowds gathered in Foley Square — near NYPD headquarters and City Hall — some chanting, "Hands up, don't shoot," and "black lives matter."
A grand jury declined to indict white NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo in the July 17 death of Eric Garner, who died after being wrested to the ground with Pantaleo's arm around his neck, while telling officers, "I can't breathe." A bystander captured the incident on video.
"I'm college educated and I still have to be seen like I'm a threat due to my skin color," said protester Isaiah Jones, 22, who joined others demonstrating on Brooklyn's Fulton Mall. "We have to slow down everything in Brooklyn and Manhattan. if they keep killing us, the system doesn't deserve to keep going. It's the best we can do right now."
The protests occurred in several spots in New York City, with crowds at times blocking traffic on the West Side Highway, lying down in an intersection outside the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, and converging outside the terminal to the Staten Island Ferry in southern Manhattan.
"Anger is not even a word, outrage is my word. Those words don't begin to define the decomposition of your soul when you hear something like this," said one protester, who identified himself as Graham D., 33, during a demonstration at Foley Square. "Before, no one believed this was happening, but now we have clear distinct evidence that police abuse is happening and still nothing happens."
Protesters also marched in Washington, D.C., for a second straight day. A group of about 100 people staged a "die-in" near the White House as a Christmas Tree lighting ceremony went off about a block away, NBC Washington reported. Several hundred protesters marched in Boston ahead of a tree lighting ceremony on the Boston Common and police were prepared for larger demonstrations, NBC station WHDH reported.
In Chicago, hundreds marched during rush hour Thursday. Crowds later walked onto the Dan Ryan Expressway, briefly closing it, until police escorted them off the road. Protesters staged a "die-in" on Roosevelt and shut down traffic for 10 minutes.
Wednesday night, hundreds of protesters in New York shut down a section of the West Side Highway and another group staged a "die-in" at the main concourse of Grand Central Terminal and rallied in Times Square. Police said they made 83 arrests at various protest sites around the city.
The grand jury in the Garner case made its decision a week and a half after a Missouri grand jury declined to indict a white Ferguson police officer, Darren Wilson, for fatally shooting unarmed black 18-year-old Michael Brown on Aug. 9.
"Ferguson, I wasn't surprised at all, I think we saw that coming, but with this one I was horrified," said another protester in Foley Square, Margaret Rodgers, 72. "It's unbelievable and a total miscarriage of justice."
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced Wednesday that the Justice Department will launch a civil rights investigation into Garner's death.
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