LT4 Vette - why no Taser? As I said before, we don't know why. Perhaps there was none on scene? Perhaps it did not fit info their UoF protocol in that response? I cannot answer for that. I can only speculate that either it was not present or was not authorized. When it comes to Tasers, it is my opinion that they are great tools. However let us not pretend like Tasers do not come without legal challenges as well. Many complaints and lawsuits exist because people have died right after being Taser'd. I find it somewhat (darkly) amusing that people are pointing to the Taser as a possible solution to this problem, when it is not unheard of for people to demonstrably blame the Taser when it's used and results in death. Folks often what to have their cake and eat it too!
Which really brings part of the disucssion to this concept ...
Garner was very possibly on the feathery edge of death by just standing there. It is likely, given his medical history and physical state that ANY PHYSICAL CONTACT OR INTERVENTION would elicit a near-death experiece.
I do agree that his asthma may likely have been a contributing factor, and the fact that he stated "I can't breathe!" multiple times could be a clue. I have two thoughts on that:
1) lying and denial are not unheard of when it comes to apprehending a suspect. I have had folks practically screaming "I'm not resisting!" as I have to wrestle them to get cuffs on. Just because they state something does not make it true. Suspects are known to work a system for their advantage and use law officer training to their benefit by scheming the system. I am not saying Garner was lying here; that is not my intent. But don't for one second believe that it does not happen. And therefore, cops are trained to follow protocol and not deviate. So what to take from this? Cops are taught to get control as quicly as possible, restrain as safely as possible, and then assess the siutation. People often want to "arm chair quaterback" the event, but we are taught that expedient action results in the least harm. The longer a struggle goes on, the greater the potential of risk to everyone at the scene. Hence, it's pounce and cuff. That allows a quick followup assessment. And that is EXACTLY what happend in the two videos. Watch them and you'll be able to put the rationale to the test.
2) asthma is not immediately life threatening in terms of seconds. When you watch the video, it took perhaps 30 seconds to subdue and cuff Garner. Death cannot occur that quickly in terms of not being able to breath. While possible that he may have lost consciousness quickly, he didn't asphyxiate to death in 30 seconds. It takes anywhere from three to seven minutes for the brain to die from a lack of oxygen; this is dependent upon many criteria. But not for one second do I think the "choke hold" killed this man as a direct result of asyphxia. There was no exclusion of breathing as a direct result of the neck restraint technique.
What is likely is that the stress of the event triggered an asthmatic reaction and possibly even a central-nervous shutdown related to ED (more on that later). And when I asked for the OCME info, I wanted to see the specific causation of death. That kind of info would have been very telling. But the absence of that info is also very telling. Given the LACK OF INFO from the OCME, we can only speculate. This in turn drives me to consider the existence of other possibilities. Had the OCME been able to directly attribute the death to a definite medical cause, I suspect it would have been listed. I suspect that the stated nature of the death certificate is, at best, specious in it's listing. It is quite possible that the stress of the event simply culminated in multiple causes combined with a very weak auto-defensive central nervous response. While his mind was saying "I can't breathe", his body was simply giving up.
As for having Garner lay on his side, that is EXACTLY the training that cops are taught. Positional Asphyxia is avoided by putting someone on their side. If asthma calls for a different approach, then it needs to be taught to the officers. But at this point, from my 20 years of continued in-service LEO training, sitting someone up and forward is not the trained response. So do NOT blame officers for following their training protocol of having him lay on his side.
I am not a doctor, but I do have rudimentary medical training (first responder certified and yet-to-be-completed EMT). Additionally, as a cop, I'm trained in being aware of certain conditions that may be exhibited during confrontation. There is a topic called ED (excited delirium) in which the body is so hyped up on it's own adreneline and/or drugs that it can cause death by not being able to calm itself. ED (leave the puns out, please, and stay on topic) has unclear causation and still is elusive in terms of diagnosis, but is acknowledged as worthy of consideration in some in-custody deaths. ED is a topic that is in it's infancy of understanding, but it is taught in many LEO training academies. ED is real and is a risk, and it is difficult to diagnose after the fact, and even more hard to deal with in real-time.
http://www.emsworld.com/article/10320570/excited-delirium
http://www.officer.com/article/10250061/in-custody-deaths-excited-delirium
I am not saying ED was to blame for sure, but certainly the lack of detail in the OCME statement leave this possibility up for consideration.
Go back to the NYC OCME death statement; it was very vague and nearly unprofessional. If there were a susccinct, articuable cause of death, it would be probably publically disseminated quickly. But the lack of info is as telling as anything else here. ED is very hard to distinguish in an autopsy and leaves few if any clues. Could it be a contributing factor? Most certainly possible.
Additionally, how many of you know that four medical responders in this event were suspended, but then ultimately cleared and reinstated? What does that tell us? I can only fathom a wide range of possibilities, but we'll not know because so far I've been unable to secure any facts past these outward statements.
http://www.ems1.com/ems-news/2009956-FDNY-Suspended-medics-being-reinstated
It is often SOP for personnel to be suspended after "questionable" events, as a matter of precautionary tone. But the two paramedics were cleared quickly, and the two EMTs were cleared subsequently. The only inference I can take from this is that Garner must have been alive at the time at the scene; why else clear them if he died under their care? Probably because he was alive while on the pavement. Unfortunately the data is sealed away; I've not been able to see direct evidence. But I am comfortable in my (admittedly limited) conclusion to this point. Understand, I am not blaming the medics, but why no outcry over the FDNY sponsored medical team?????? Ask yourself why are the cops blamed, but no one even knows the FDNY medical team was investigated too? The cops did their job according to their training protocol, and there is at least some outward indication that the medical team took appropriate actions, otherwise the four medics would not have been cleared.
This is my assessment of what really happened:
Garner was a walking, ticking death-imminent timb-bomb, and any stress whatsoever was likely to set off his demise.
Garner was allegedly involved in a crime, and the NYPD took action in line with the protocol of their department training and UoF doctrine.
Garner was able to speak (breathe) while being cuffed but was at the onset of death from the stress of physical exertion and complications from the event.
Garner was breathing and had a pulse after being cuffed, but was probably on his way out.
Garner was assessed by the FDNY sponsored medical team; they took limited actions, were investigated and cleared.
Garner likely expired at some point between laying on the street and the hospital.
Garner has some amount of personal culpability in this; he chose to resist and he had direct knowledge of his risky medical conditions, whereas the cops did not.
Garner possibly may have died had a Taser been used; while it cannot be proven either way, there are some coincidental similarities in other Taser related deaths.
Garner probably died from some combination of asthma, ED and central nervous shutdown.
Yes - I agree that the event unfolded into a tradegy. But that tragedy is not the fault of the NYPD. And the Grand Jury saw it for what it was, and ruled accordingly.
So again, I ask that if folks have other good quality info that can be substantiated, and they disagree with my presentation of the facts and assessments, then by all means, please bring forth the info. Please do so in a controlled, deliberate, articuable manner.
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