Dying for the Sake of Taxes

Around ten days ago in New York City.....some cops came upon this one guy....Eric Garner....and made him aware of an impending arrest.  Eric declined the arrest, made the episode difficult.....causing the cops to use a headlock.  The physical actions involved was sufficient to cause Eric to hyperventilate. Being an asthmatic.....things didn't go well.  Eric passed away that day.

Naturally, being black plays into this story.  Unnecessary force was immediately part of the story from that point on.

I've noticed now that this story has become page one news in New York City.....staying on page one since day one.  Everyone is involved in the chatter....from the mayor on down to Eric's widow.

Daily updates come and go.....with few news organizations going back to the original event and asking questions.

To put it in the right perspective....Eric had dealings with cheap cigarette sales (No New York City taxation). Eric was part of an effort to sell cheap smokes on the street.  His associates brought in smokes from Indian reservation sales or cheap cigarette taxation states (West Virginia at 55 cents a pack and North Carolina at 45 cents a pack)...it’s a simple act to take $10,000...cross the border...buy bulk...drive back and sell smokes on the streets of New York City at $1 to $2 off the normal street cost (note, for this argument, NYC smokes tax is $4.35).

While arrested before...Eric has yet to ever be convicted. You can figure various reasons....lack of prosecution capability....weak judge...limited evidence...etc. No one from the various news departments from NY City has discussed this part of the story.  It would be curious why justice didn't ever work as conceived.

So, the cops came around Eric on this occasion....wanted him to cooperate for another arrest, and Eric declined. He just wasn't going to cooperate with the cops. No one wanted to use the Taser on the guy...so they went to the old method of the chock-hold....note: illegal by city standards via cops since 1993.

Eric was a 350-lb guy....an asthmatic....probably not in good shape....and died because of events that he triggered and the cops simply wandered into. The city will fire the cop involved....pay off the wife with something like $1 million, and some city hall guy will gift Eric Garner with a statue in the middle of town....probably with a pack of smokes in his pocket as a symbol of nature and it’s unpleasant epic endings.

 Yeah....a guy just surviving off the street....selling cheapo smokes and cheating the city out of taxes.  Dying. Then getting to be noticed as a "hero" of sorts.

The news media?  Stalled and in a way operating like a third-world operation existing out of Bolivia.