17 July 201922 December 2022 4WardEverUK

Eric Garner: no charges against white police officer over chokehold death

source: The Guardian
published: 16 July 2019

Federal prosecutors will not charge the New York police officer implicated in the chokehold death of Eric Garner, an African American man killed almost five years ago.

The decision announced by the US attorney Richard Donoghue on Tuesday was another blow to the Garner family, figureheads in the Black Lives Matter movement, who have campaigned to hold the NYPD accountable. US justice department sources said the final call on the non-indictment was made by the attorney general, William Barr.

Garner’s death, on 17 July 2014, became a focal point for national conversation on race and policing. Garner’s last words, “I can’t breathe”, were chanted by protesters across the US.

25 November 201822 December 2022 4WardEverUK

3 years later, Sandra Bland’s family still want answers surrounding her death

source: ESSENCE News
published: 19 November 2018

On July 13, 2015, the unthinkable happened to the family of Sandra Bland, a 28-year-old who was a “bright, beautiful, outspoken, bold, caring, loving and intelligent individual,” says her sister Shante Needham.

Three days after being arrested during a routine traffic stop, Bland was found hanging in a jail cell in Waller County, Texas. She had been pulled over by state trooper Brian Encinia, who told her it was because she had failed to signal a lane change. Later, dashcam footage would reveal Encinia asking Bland to put out her cigarette.

30 May 201822 December 2022 4WardEverUK

Settlement reached in police-custody death of Ethan Saylor

source: Washington Post
published: 24 April 2018

The family of Robert Ethan Saylor, a man with Down syndrome who died after three off-duty Frederick County sheriff deputies forced him from a movie theater, have reached a settlement with the state of Maryland, the deputies and the management company of the shopping center where the theater is located.

The $1.9 million settlement will mark the end of a long-standing lawsuit and comes more than five years after Saylor’s death led to public outrage and a call for better training of law enforcement officials.

“There’s a cliche that you can’t assign a dollar amount to a human being’s life, but that is our system, that’s the only remedy we have for justice in our system,” Saylor’s mother, Patti Saylor, said Tuesday.

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