 |
Four first responders have been placed on 'modified desk duty' following the death of an asthmatic, obese man after he was placed in a chokehold by a NYPD officer on Thursday. The two paramedics and two emergency medical technicians work for Richmond University Medical Center in Staten Island, a FDNY source told MailOnline, and are now on 'modified desk duty.' The four employees can't answer emergency calls during an investigation into 43-year-old Eric Garner's death, the source confirmed. Meanwhile, Rev. Al Sharpton delivered a sermon in the wake of Garner's death at the Riverside Church in Manhattan on Sunday. 'What bothers me is that the nation watches a man saying "I can't breathe" and the choking continues. "I can't breathe," and it continues,' Sharpton said in a sermon uploaded online by the church. Sharpton later asked, 'When does your sense of humanity kick in?'
Shocking video emerged Saturday of the minutes after Garner was put in a chokehold that may have killed him - and it was revealed that the cop responsible has had his gun and badge stripped.
Garner died shortly after he was thrown to the ground and choked-out by NYPD officers outside the Staten Island store in which he worked.
'It violates protocol. It violates a direct rule which is never to put somebody in a choke hold,' an unidentified source told the newspaper.
Earlier footage released Friday shows one officer put Garner in a chokehold - a maneuver barred under NYPD practice code - while police tried to arrest him over claims he was selling bootleg cigarettes.  |
| Unresponsive: Eric Garner appears unconscious and is barely breathing to the point an officer checks his pulse |
New footage shows him unresponsive on the ground for several minutes before help arrives.The video picks up where another disturbing video left off, with the man seemingly unconscious after the violent arrest.
Officers Daniel Pantaleo and Justin Damico have since been placed on desk duty, with Pantaleo forced to hand in his gun and badge, according to the New York Daily News, which originally made the original video public.
The second video shows Garner on his side on the ground as a crowd builds around him. Police first try to make the person capturing the footage leave, but they do not.
Cops try to talk with Garner, but he does not respond - his eyes are closed and his head is on the sidewalk.
They openly wonder if he still has a pulse, and one officer presses his fingers to Garner's neck and says he does.
People keep asking why they aren't doing CPR, and paramedics do not arrive for over three minutes.
Another person asks again why no CPR was performed.
'Because he's still breathing,' and officer snaps at the person.
Despite Garner's medical condition being apparent to the still-building crowd, many cops stand around casually talking with each other, some can even be heard laughing.
 | |||
| Grief: Esaw, pictured with Eric, says she struggled to watch the footage of her husband's final moments |
Sharpton then joined the family on a peaceful demonstration through Staten Island, to protest the circumstances of Garner's death.
In the video Garner, who was not armed, is heard denying that he has been involved in illegal activity when a plainclothes police officer accosted him.
'Every time you see me you want to mess with me. I’m tired of it. It stops today!' Garner said.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2699381
STATEN ISLAND ADVANCE:
Police sources familiar with the investigation said that the officers were trying to arrest Garner because they saw him selling untaxed cigarettes, which he had done in the past. He was known to police as a fighter, sources said, and had been known to sell drugs, not just cigarettes.
"He absolutely resisted arrest. He took a fighting stance," one police source said.
An NYPD source told the Advance he died of an apparent heart attack while cops tried to arrest him.
Police told the Associated Press the man was in his 40s and had previous arrests for selling untaxed cigarettes.
A Daily News video released of the incident shows police confronting Garner. When Garner refused to put his hands behind his back, a plainclothes officer put him in a chokehold, the Daily News reported.