Staten Island Quotes
5 New York City—Staten Island--police officers were arresting a large unarmed Black man, and one of them used a “choke hold” which was against Departmental Regulations. The man cried out several times that he was having trouble breathing and he was choking, until he was choked to death. The coroner ruled that a crime had been committed and the death was a homicide. However, the Staten Island District Attorney and his Grand Jury refused to even indict the officer that did the choking. Staten Island was a very conservative, white enclave in New York City. See {642459}.
Rangel said this sarcastically to Lindsay, who wanted to do an experiment legalizing heroin. As Rangel described it, Lindsay said the heroin would be legal only for addicted adults and the experiment would be done only in a couple of places to test it.
He was referring to a case where an unarmed criminal suspect was being arrested by 5 police officers who choked him to death in what the coroner ruled was a homicide. Some police union spokesmen justified the homicide on the grounds that the victim had resisted arrest (in great question from viewing the video tapes). “Had he not, he would not be dead”. The spokesman ignored the fact that the choke hold that the police used was prohibited by the Police Department Manual and Rules as well as imprudent and unnecessary in that case. Surely 5 trained policemen can physically control 1 unarmed man without choking him Sharpton observed, and with this pithy quote, put the tragedy into perspective as a violation of civil rights.