PBS高端访谈:关于警察杀人事件的民众抗议仍在进行中
时间：2015-01-15 02:12:40
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GWEN IFILL: Racial tensions and police use of force dominated the nation's agenda today, after the latest high-profile case involving a white officer and a black victim. This time, it happened in New York. But new calls for calm and new cries of anger echoed across city after city.
Around the country, protests built as the day wore on. In Pittsburgh, people laid down in the street, blocking traffic. And, in New York City, with more rallies starting this evening, Mayor Bill de Blasio again urged calm.
BILL DE BLASIO, (D) Mayor of New York: As we said yesterday, we will not tolerate violence or
disorder1. But we think, by showing respect for the democratic process, it's one of the right ways of setting a tone that keeps the protests peaceful.
GWEN IFILL: Eighty-three protesters were arrested last night in New York, but, as in many cities and on many college campuses, the
demonstrations2 were largely peaceful. They began after a grand jury
decided3 against
indicting4 police officer Daniel Pantaleo in the
killing5 of Eric
Garner6 last July.
Viral video showed police stopping Garner on Staten Island for suspicion of selling untaxed cigarettes.
ERIC GARNER: I did nothing. We were sitting here the whole time minding our business.
GWEN IFILL: When Garner
balked7 at being arrested, Pantaleo wrapped his arm around Garner's neck, wrestling and holding him down. Garner, who had
asthma8, pleaded that he was
suffocating9.
ERIC GARNER: I can't breathe. I can't breathe.
GWEN IFILL: Garner died later at a hospital.
A medical examiner ruled it a homicide by a banned chokehold. But, today, the head of the city's police union called Pantaleo's action a textbook
maneuver10.
PATRICK LYNCH, President, Patrolmen's
Benevolent11 Association: This was a police officer who was sent to that location to do a difficult job, had to bring a person to the ground that said, I'm not going, and was resisting arrest.
While bringing that person to the ground, yes, they said, "We can't breathe." But the police officers and the EMS did what they're supposed to do at that time. If you're speaking, you can breathe.
GWEN IFILL: Mayor de Blasio disagreed. He said today he's ordering a retraining program for the city's police. And civil rights leaders, including the Reverend Al Sharpton, focused on the legal system's handling of the cases in New York, and in Ferguson, Missouri.
REV12. AL SHARPTON: We need to centralize and make clear that we want the Justice Department and the federal government to deal with the fact that grand jury systems on a state level are broken and seem to lack the capacity to deal with police.
GWEN IFILL: Attorney General Eric
Holder13 has already ordered a civil rights
investigation14 in the Garner case. And today in Cleveland, he announced findings that that city's police use excessive force far too often.
ERIC HOLDER, Attorney General: I think we certainly see patterns that have emerged through the
investigations15 that we have done, where you see
inadequate16 training, where you see resource deficiencies, where you see cultural — cultural problems that exist within police departments.
GWEN IFILL: That review began even before an officer shot and killed a 12-year-old boy last month who turned out to be carrying a toy gun.
A new agreement calls for a court-appointed monitor to
oversee17 reforms in the Cleveland police force. Civil rights figures are also making plans for a march and summit in Washington later this month.
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