My apologies if this has already been posted to DKos, but in case it hasn't, I wanted to provide a link to a second video showing just how murderous, inhumane and barbaric Daniel Pantaleo and his fellow officers comported themselves in the presence of a suffocating and dying man-- suffocating and dying due to their (and especially Pantaleo's) actions no less. Whereas the first video (recorded by Ramsey Orta) showed Pantaleo and the other cops in the act of killing Garner,the second was recorded by Taisha Allen inside the nearby store, after Mr. Garner was on the ground and unconscious due to Pantaleo's violent actions-- banned by the NYPD rules, no less, and ruled a homicide by the city's own coroner.
The video in Emily Badger's article is long but as the headline fairly suggests, in some ways it's even more disturbing than the one that's become better known. What's shocking is about it is the complete lack of empathy and even basic professionalism shown by the police officers here. Early on after the chokehold (as the EMS paramedics eventually demonstrate) Garner was out cold but still very much alive, and as even many civilians (let alone well-trained first responders) know quite well, if someone has lost consciousness, you make sure their airway is open, supply rescue breaths and chest thrusts (formal CPR) if needed. Garner was clearly in respiratory distress as his own cries of "I can't breathe" in Pantaleo's death grip had already made obvious before he went out cold.
But on top of the grossly negligent and unprofessional response, the callousness and arrogance is even more shocking. The officers seem to prance around as though they'd just made a kill on safari, Pantaleo in particular. In fact, Pantaleo comes off as a complete thug and psychopath here. He grinned and made humiliating gestures while strangling Mr. Garner, even put his knee on Mr. Garner's head (one of the other officers was even telling him to knock it off). But then, rather than trying to take the most basic steps to remedy his brutal and unprofessional behavior, Pantaleo basically preens like a slimeball. It's as if he's been excited by his "kill". Utterly disgusting. In some ways it's worse than the police shooting of 12-year old Tamir Rice in Cleveland, where the cops failed for many crucial minutes afterward to provide first aid. It makes the grand jury's failure to even indict Pantaleo even more unforgivable and appalling.
Seeing this combination of violence, malice and negligence, I get the impression more and more that many elements of United States law enforcement are more or less turning authoritarian, practically fascist. Notice how the big crooks who actually do real damage to America (the thugs at JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and the parasitical health insurance executives) are treated with kid gloves and barely even fined, let alone prosecuted. Whereas the "little people" are harassed and hounded, arrested and forced to cough up whatever meager savings they have to a greedy and power-hungry state, and left with nothing, forced back into poverty and petty crime just to survive.
History tells us this is exactly how revolutions are provoked. And sometimes I really wonder if there's another coming to our shores soon. People simply won't stay passive when they're treated like dirt by those who are supposed to be "the authorities".