Protests against police violence flare for third night in New York | Reuters.
(Reuters) – Protesters in New York and other U.S. cities rallied for a third straight night on Friday denouncing the use of deadly force by police against minorities, as prosecutors said they would consider charges against an officer who fatally shot an unarmed black man in November.
The killing of Akai Gurley, 28, gunned down in a dimly lit stairwell in the New York borough of Brooklyn, was the latest in a string of lethal police actions fueling public outrage over what many perceive as race-based violence by law enforcement.
This week’s wave of angry but largely peaceful protests began Wednesday when a New York grand jury declined to bring charges against white officer Daniel Pantaleo in the chokehold death of Eric Garner, a black 43-year-old father of six.
A videotape of the confrontation on Staten Island in July showed Pantaleo’s arm across Garner’s neck as four officers subdued the unarmed man on suspicion of selling cigarettes illegally. Garner was pinned face down to the pavement as he repeatedly gasped, “I can’t breathe” – a phrase protesters have transformed into a rallying cry.
The decision sparing Pantaleo from prosecution was announced nine days after a Missouri grand jury chose not to indict a white policeman for the shooting death in August of an unarmed black teenager in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, spurring two nights of arson and unrest there.
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