Jackson Lee—“The time has come for the individual responsible for Eric’s death to face accountability, and be fired from the New York Police Department. This is the right course of action and should be done for many reasons. First, if our efforts at ensuring greater community police relationships are to have any meaning, then all stakeholders must feel that there is accountability when police officers err. This is one-such occasion where ideals about restorative justice dictate that all stakeholders stand collectively for the officer’s firing. This is the only conclusion given what the video of Eric’s last moments of life shows: the officer who killed Eric was not in fear for his life. Eric was not combative—in fact, the video shows him flailing, begging for his life, telling his apprehender that he could not breathe. My conversations with his mother—whom I know personally—further underscore that this father and grandfather was not a menace to society; rather, he was like the countless other African American men whose life was wrongly taken by law enforcement. It is time for accountability and responsibility and terminating this officer’s employment is the obligation of people who support enhanced police relations. It is time for all parties dealing with law enforcement across the nation to insist on police accountability and integrity. In addition to community-oriented policing as a method of training police, police departments across the nation should work to improve police/community relations as part of a community-oriented policing strategy. And, it is time for the man who took Eric Garner’s life to be fired from his position as an officer on the NYPD and it is time for the Garner family to have peace and justice.”

Washington, D.C. - Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, a Senior Member of the House Committee on Judiciary, and who has worked on legislation focused on police accountability and integrity, and a member of the Homeland Security, and Budget committees, released this statement demanding the termination of the NYPD officer responsible for taking the life of Eric Garner:

“Five years ago, Eric Garner was a vibrant man. He had before him a full life. That all changed on July 17, 2014, when officers from the New York Police Department approached him and accused him of selling single cigarettes, and cigarettes without a tax stamp. When Eric explained that the accusations were false and implored N.Y.P.D. officers to leave him be, officers proceeded to place him under arrested. When he resisted, NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo placed him in a chokehold—which is against NYPD policy—and proceeded to deprive Eric of the air he needed to breathe. Eric indicated 11 times that he could not breathe. Pantaleo only relented when he had effectuated Eric’s arrest. By then, Eric had lost consciousness. Many minutes would pass before an ambulance would arrive. Eric would not regain consciousness. He died that day. The entire incident was captured on cell phone video, and has been viewed tens of millions of times.

“The five years which have elapsed have seen Eric Garner’s family suffer indignities and insults, following their unimaginable injury. First, a grand jury in the State of New York refused to return a criminal indictment charging Pantaleo with Eric’s death. Then, last month, on the five-year anniversary of his death, the Justice Department announced that it would abstain from filing federal charges alleging that Pantaleo violated Eric’s civil rights. In the intervening years since his death, the Garner family suffered yet more heartache when, in December 2017, Eric’s daughter Erica, herself a social justice advocate, died following a heart attack. All the while, Pantaleo remains an officer of the NYPD.

“The time has come for the individual responsible for Eric’s death to face accountability, and be fired from the New York Police Department. This is the right course of action and should be done for many reasons. First, if our efforts at ensuring greater community police relationships are to have any meaning, then all stakeholders must feel that there is accountability when police officers err. This is one-such occasion where ideals about restorative justice dictate that all stakeholders stand collectively for the officer’s firing. This is the only conclusion given what the video of Eric’s last moments of life shows: the officer who killed Eric was not in fear for his life. Eric was not combative—in fact, the video shows him flailing, begging for his life, telling his apprehender that he could not breathe. My conversations with his mother—whom I know personally—further underscore that this father and grandfather was not a menace to society; rather, he was like the countless other African American men whose life was wrongly taken by law enforcement. It is time for accountability and responsibility and terminating this officer’s employment is the obligation of people who support enhanced police relations. It is time for all parties dealing with law enforcement across the nation to insist on police accountability and integrity. In addition to community-oriented policing as a method of training police, police departments across the nation should work to improve police/community relations as part of a community-oriented policing strategy. It is time for the man who took Eric Garner’s life to be fired from his position as an officer on the NYPD and it is time for the Garner family to have peace and justice.”